Mozilla, the organization behind the Firefox browser, on Wednesday launched a startup dedicated to artificial intelligence. It is called Mozilla.ai.
“AI is grabbing public attention like Netscape did in 1994 and like the iPhone did in 2007,” Mozilla said. Mozilla.ai will work to build an independent, trusted and open-source artificial intelligence ecosystem.
“The vision of Mozilla.ai is to facilitate the development of trusted artificial intelligence products,” said Mark Surman, executive chairman of Mozilla and member of the board of directors of Mozilla.ai, in a blog post.
“Mozilla.ai will be a space outside of big tech companies and academia”
Mr. Surman says he and his organization have for some time met with people interested in developing AI that prioritizes transparency, accountability and human agency, as well as user interests. However, Surman and Mozilla find that this approach is not widely adopted by other technology companies. That’s why they decided to launch this startup.
“Mozilla.ai will be a space outside of big tech companies and academia where like-minded founders, developers, scientists, product managers, and builders come together,” he wrote. “We believe this group of people, working collectively, can turn the tide and create an independent, decentralized and trustworthy AI ecosystem – a true counterbalance to the status quo.”
This announcement also comes after OpenAI, the originator of ChatGPT, decided to close the lid on its know-how. While companies like Facebook or Google had become accustomed to sharing part of the research around artificial intelligence, OpenAI has decided to no longer communicate on these subjects.
Generative AI and recommender systems
Surman writes that Mozilla.ai will initially focus on generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, but with security and transparency concerns. Recommender systems that don’t misinform people will also be the focus of Mozilla.ai.
Mozilla has invested $30 million in Mozilla.ai. Moez Draief, former chief scientist of Huawei’s Noah’s Ark lab, will serve as the organization’s chief executive.
The launch of Mozilla.ai comes as more and more companies launch AI tools. Google released a waiting list for its AI tool Bard a day before the launch of Mozilla.ai. Other technology companies, such as DuckDuckGo or Adobe, have also launched AI tools quite recently.