The AI-browser contest is becoming a choice between integration and control
Firefox’s Smart Window can now retrieve current web information with source links through Exa, suggest tab groups, and search browsing.
Firefox’s Smart Window can now retrieve current web information with source links through Exa, suggest tab groups, and search browsing history using natural language and visual page previews.[6] Google, meanwhile, completed the US Android rollout of Gemini in Chrome, where the assistant can summari…
Firefox’s Smart Window can now retrieve current web information with source links through Exa, suggest tab groups, and search browsing history using natural language and visual page previews.[6] Google, meanwhile, completed the US Android rollout of Gemini in Chrome, where the assistant can summarize pages, answer questions, and generate images from a toolbar window.[7]
Why it matters: The browser is becoming a primary interface for AI assistance, but Mozilla is differentiating through opt-in controls, model choice, local-model support, and stated zero-data-retention arrangements rather than a single tightly integrated assistant.[6][7]
Key insights: Firefox users can disable all browser AI features or choose individually which ones remain active.[6] | Smart Window supports models from Google, OpenAI, and Alibaba, as well as users’ own local AI models.[6] | Mozilla says third-party model providers process prompts under zero-data-retention contracts and that Firefox does not retain chats on its servers without permission for uses such as model training.[6] | Smart Window remains an opt-in beta without a precise date for leaving beta, while Gemini in Chrome is already available to all Android users in the US.[6][7]
Cheatsheet facts: What changed: Firefox added cited web answers, history retrieval, visual previews, and automatic tab organization, while Gemini in Chrome reached all US Android users.[6][7] | Why now: Browser makers are embedding assistants directly into navigation, search, page understanding, and management of previously visited content.[6][7] | Watch next: Watch for Smart Window’s exit from beta and Mozilla’s planned additions of recent browsing journeys and AI-powered form autofill.[6]
Firefox’s Smart Window can now retrieve current web information with source links through Exa, suggest tab groups, and search browsing history using natural language and visual page previews.[6] Google, meanwhile, completed the US Android rollout of Gemini in Chrome, where the assistant can summarize pages, answer questions, and generate images from a toolbar window.[7]
Why it matters: The browser is becoming a primary interface for AI assistance, but Mozilla is differentiating through opt-in controls, model choice, local-model support, and stated zero-data-retention arrangements rather than a single tightly integrated assistant.[6][7]
Key insights: Firefox users can disable all browser AI features or choose individually which ones remain active.[6] | Smart Window supports models from Google, OpenAI, and Alibaba, as well as users’ own local AI models.[6] | Mozilla says third-party model providers process prompts under zero-data-retention contracts and that Firefox does not retain chats on its servers without permission for uses such as model training.[6] | Smart Window remains an opt-in beta without a precise date for leaving beta, while Gemini in Chrome is already available to all Android users in the US.[6][7]
Cheatsheet facts: What changed: Firefox added cited web answers, history retrieval, visual previews, and automatic tab organization, while Gemini in Chrome reached all US Android users.[6][7] | Why now: Browser makers are embedding assistants directly into navigation, search, page understanding, and management of previously visited content.[6][7] | Watch next: Watch for Smart Window’s exit from beta and Mozilla’s planned additions of recent browsing journeys and AI-powered form autofill.[6]