Mozilla CEO will Eventually Implement AI into Firefox
For anyone wondering, The Verge shared a post on Bluesky linking to an article titled Mozilla’s new CEO is doubling down on an AI future for Firefox. Forbes has also posted an article on their website titled Mozilla Bets Trust And User-First AI Wins The New Browser Wars. Long story short, they're going to be adding AI shenanigans to their browser much to the dismay of ... well ... everyone.
I'm very much displeased with the outcome and outlook of Firefox because I've been using it for 15+ years. With that being said, I definitely think y'all should switch web browsers ASAP. I 100% recommend the following:
Floorp
LibreWolf
Waterfox
All three are forks of Firefox (meaning that they created a browser using Firefox's code and such) so if you're used to Firefox's UI then you won't have any problems using the these three. Floorp and LibreOffice haven't implement ANY forms of AI into their browsers as of yet. Waterfox, on the other hand, has EXPLICITLY STATED that they're anti-AI. So that's definitely something worth looking into.
UPDATE: I've done a strikethrough for Floorp and LibreWolf because I just found out they do, in fact, have AI shit planned later on down the road. I definitely recommend you going with Waterfox.
UPDATE #2: While Gen AI has been brought to many users' attention for LibreWolf (which can be seen in the comments section) well over a year ago, and it does look like they've since dealt with it as seen here, it's definitely safe to use LibreWolf from the looks of it!
A huge blocklist of manually curated sites that contain AI generated imagery for uBlock Origin & uBlacklist. - laylavish/uBlockOrigin-HUGE-A
Install this blocklist using the instructions on the GitHub page. For Firefox, you will need to install uBlockOrigin for this. Google Chrome no longer allows the uBlockOrigin extension, so I'm assuming you're at least primarily a Firefox user - or about to be (see browser alternatives below).
For Google Chrome or mobile browsers, this will work with uBlacklist. See the GitHub page for full details on compatibility.
Remove AI Widgets:
If you go to your uBlockOrigin Filter lists page, you can select to filter out AI Widgets - this should completely remove the 'AI Mode' widget/button from your Google search page, in addition to the work done by the Huge AI Blocklist.
Using the uBlockOrigin Huge AI Blocklist filter has made my Google searches look like they used to, and gives me genuine search results.
Look at this. It's beautiful. It's informative. It's not a heap of burning trash bloated with fake information made up by a hallucinating chat bot.
We can go even further: return to the old school search results.
Now, the above results are great and should be free of generative AI junk, but some people would rather not see any of the summary widgets or 'people also ask' box at all. Fear not! You can remove all that by using the 'Web' mode in the Google search bar. Click the 'More' drop down menu and select 'Web'.
Huzzah! Incredible. It's like a functional search engine again.
You can make this the default Google search mode in Google Chrome using Method 1 from this page (https://allthings.how/how-to-turn-off-ai-mode-in-google-chrome/). Unfortunately, I don't know if there's a way to do this in Firefox too. This is why for the most part I still use DuckDuckGo (see below) as my default search engine, and only use Google to supplement my searches on the rare occasion I'm just missing something.
Remember, if you clear your cookies, your search engine preferences will reset, including any settings you enabled/disabled to avoid AI. This applies to DuckDuckGo as well; check your settings every time you clear your browser!
Extra filters (optional):
I've also added four filters (their order doesn't matter) to the My Filters page. Full disclosure: I'm not sure they still work, or may only work on Chrome, but I'm keeping them anyway, just in case.
From https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1i7kg83/comment/m8lllwr/: see which solution in the list works for you, it seems to be different for everybody.
From https://allthings.how/how-to-turn-off-ai-mode-in-google-chrome/:
www.google.com##.Beswgc
www.google.com##.olrp5b
www.google.com##.hdzaWe
Make sure you hit the apply changes button when you add filters.
Browser alternatives: escaping Google Chrome.
If you haven't jumped ship from Chrome yet, I'd recommend doing so. Sometimes Chrome outperforms Firefox for niche purposes or because a website doesn't bother to fully support non-Chrome browsers, but the days of Chrome being the superior browser are long gone — by about 10 years. If you're trying to escape Chromium browsers, beware that a lot of the popular Chrome alternatives are just Chrome in a different hat.
Firefox has been the most popular non-Chromium browser for years, and for good reason. However, the company running Mozilla Firefox has annoyed their users, me included, by refusing to take an anti- generative-ai stance, and even included AI features in the Mozilla Firefox browser. Most Firefox users specifically use it because they hate Google's enshittification and want a privacy-focused, clean browser that doesn't hog their RAM and CPU for no reason. So, you can imagine that Mozilla's attitude has pissed us all off recently. You can turn off the AI features in Firefox with the built-in settings, but the company has recently steered straight into the burning garbage heap by saying they want to make the browser based on AI.
Waterfox and LibreWolf:
There are really good alternatives based on Firefox (open-source) which are not affiliated with Mozilla (the company), if you don't like how it operates. Waterfox and LibreWolf are even more trimmed down and privacy-focused than Mozilla's Firefox, and don't use AI. Anti-ai statements: Waterfox and LibreWolf.
From this page: https://programming.dev/post/42546774
In short: LibreWolf is for those who want a “locked-down” fortress out of the box, while Waterfox is for those who want a privacy-conscious browser that still feels like a normal, convenient daily driver.
Choose LibreWolf if: You want the highest level of privacy without having to manually edit config files, and you don’t mind occasionally “fixing” a broken website or re-logging into accounts.
Choose Waterfox if: You want a privacy-respecting browser that supports Firefox Sync, has an Android counterpart, and handles streaming sites/logins without any extra friction (it supports WideWine out of the box, which lets you stream DRM protected content (netflix, hulu, disney, etc).
— [email protected]
I've heard good things about both of these browsers and will investigate them further to decide whether to personally switch from Mozilla Firefox.
DuckDuckGo:
I would also recommend installing the DuckDuckGo extension to your browsers and setting it to be your default search engine.
I've had DuckDuckGo installed on my browsers, Chrome or Firefox, for like 10 years now. It is a good search engine, it's unobtrusive, and blocks trackers, cookies, and does not save any data about you. I've also used it as my default mobile browser for years, along with Firefox mobile, which you can add the AI Blocklist to (see again the GitHub page). I haven't tried the DuckDuckGo desktop browser yet, but I imagine it works just fine like the mobile version. I think DuckDuckGo's browser is also Chromium-based, at least indirectly. I use Firefox with the DuckDuckGo extension so I can have a widely-supported, non-Chromium browser, but include all of DuckDuckGo's anti-tracking features.
Note: DuckDuckGo has included AI in its browser product, however you can opt-out of all AI features with the built-in settings and they will not push it on you like Google does. I hope they remove AI features entirely in the future, but for now I am comfortable with the barriers in place to keep AI out of my face. Firefox also has AI features like Chrome does, which you can turn off with the built-in settings.
There's also noai.duckduckgo search, an alternative version of its normal search engine which removes AI-generated images and turns off AI results/assists by default. Even though DuckDuckGo's inclusion of any AI features annoys me, its policy to make these features 100% optional builds trust with this browser/extension/search engine.
You can always use Google search if you need to, but with uBlockOrigin and the AI Blocklist filter added on, at least you shouldn't have AI-altered search results or the AI overview anymore.
Other browsers exist, probably:
There are certainly more non-Chromium alternatives out there, but Firefox, Waterfox, and LibreWolf are the top three recommended to me. That link to alternatives, plus this ComputerCity page are the best lists I could find in a brief search. If you google "non-Chromium browsers" you'll get a lot of mixed results which require a bit of digging to realise they're not really recommending you what you looked for at all.
I've heard about Ecosia over the years, and while I like the idea of a search engine that plants a tree for each query, I don't think that's actually what happens — at least, that's what they used to be reputed to do, but I believe that's an unsustainable business model which has likely changed. In 2026, Ecosia says it uses 100% of its profits for the planet and runs its search engine off clean energy. That's cool! It's still Chromium-based. And it also uses generative AI for chat bots, so I don't trust its principles on environmentalism. I need to do more reading on this to form a stronger opinion about it.
I hope this post has helped at least some of you have a better experience browsing the web and googling your questions.
The Huge AI Blocklist really has been an amazing tool to keep my internet life free and clear of a lot of generative AI rubbish. I'm not a tech expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm savvy enough to understand what genAI is and does, and that the more I learn about it, it's even worse than I thought. I truly hate it, and I hate the enshittification of all our experiences, even those as simple and innocent as googling "snow leopard" or "how to cook pasta" or "what is a phascogale" (go ahead and test your freshly-cleaned search engines out with that one hehe).
Quote from the recent suggestion of adding a code of conduct to the librwolf project:
"Until then though, it should be clear: I'm very opposed to 'keeping things apolitical', because keeping things apolitical / trying to have a (false!) balance is taking sides and is political: it sides with the oppressors.
So LibreWolf should definitely be considered a 'very woke', and certainly quite political project, where queer- and transphobia, racism, ableism, antivax stuff, etc. are not tolerated. I'll gladly see a hundred racist people be pissed and leave if that makes only a single person from a disadvantaged / minority group feel safer."
Honestly really cool, might make the switch to librewolf, especially after the recent Firefox stuff.
YouTube and Other Alternatives Directory | Chrome Browser Alternatives
Firefox 💝🍎🤖🍏🪟🐧
The primary non-chromium browser. Makes it very easy to sync all of your passwords, bookmarks, and extensions when switching from Chrome, and the Firefox Color extension is easy to use to for visual customization.
Waterfox 💝✒️🍏🪟🐧
A fork of Firefox, it uses the same bare bones from FireFox and puts extra emphasis on privacy.
LibreWolf 💝✒️🍏🪟🐧
Another fork of Firefox, it uses the same bare bones from Firefox and puts extra emphasis on privacy. It automatically includes uBlock Origin.
DuckDuckGo 💝🍎🤖🍏🪟
DuckDuckGo is primarily known as a privacy-focused search engine, but they do have a browser as well. It is a chromium-based browser.
Mullvad 💝✒️🍏🪟🐧
An extremely privacy-focused browser that does not collect any data. The company is based in Sweden. They also have a VPN (which is suggested to be used in conjunction with the broswer) with a fixed-rate cost. It is a chromium-based browser.
Brave 💝🍎🤖🍏🪟🐧
Another privacy-focused open-source browser that automatically blocks third-party ads. They also have a search engine, as well. It is a chromium-based browser. Be advised that Brave supports cryptocurrency.
Vivaldi 💝✒️🍎🤖🍏🪟🐧
A privacy-focused chromium-based browser that includes an adblocker, tracker blocker, and hides cookie messages. It also has ProtonVPN built in.
Orion 💝✒️🍎🍏
A privacy-focused alternative to Safari. It automatically includes an adblocker and tracker blocker, and has compatability with Chrome and FireFox extensions.
Tor 💝✒️🤖🍏🪟🐧
The most privacy-centered browser out there. The history page on their website sums up this browser better than I ever could.
I've decided I'm gonna finally ungoogle my life a bit and give librewolf a try. Supposedly it's a lot more secure than chromium (and it's based on firefox).
Whatever update Xkit Rewritten or Tumblr's staff has made recently is really cooking the performance of the site on LibreWolf.
The extension was updated yesterday, so I guess it's just a matter of waiting 24 hours or something. Like, even now with it disabled the site is chugging along.
Wonder if they're trying to make the website hostile to ad blocking extensions, or if this is just usual glitchy nonsense.
They've just updated their Terms of Service as of March 1st, stripping away a few pro-privacy clauses and coyly dancing around the topic of integrating AI into the browser...
Look - the worst case is still Chrome and its more direct derivatives, like Edge. Firefox is extensively customizable, so whatever additional telemetry is collected is likely to be easily turned off in the Settings. So I wouldn't panic just yet.
If things do keep devolving, however, remember that LibreWolf exists - along with others like Brave - and don't forget to back up your passwords before making the switch, if you do decide to make it. LibreWolf, notably, isn't able to use Firefox Sync by default - for good reasons - and its onboard Password Manager is limited to local storage. LibreWolf's devs themselves recommend that you invest in a third-party password manager, for the sake of added safety.
