AI and browsers

The latest article from Mozilla's CEO, by Mark Surman, contains several interesting points.

A good number of reactions have focused more on evaluating it—they don't find it acceptable that Firefox seems to be taking a backseat—than on reading his analysis.

I think the latter contains many things worthwhile.

The title itself places the arguments in terms of eras

Surman's arguments are based on a schematic interpretation of the history of the internet, from the perspective of a company like Mozilla: a company that wants to be a relevant player in that historical course.

If 25 years ago, Surman says, the web was the main ecosystem, now this has changed.

He brings it all together in the expression "data and AI" as the pieces that have become essential to our digital lives.

What's being debated, then, is access.

In digital products, the two dimensions we usually deal with—container and content—are often confused.

The browser is a magnificent example of this: Mozilla set out to ensure that access to the web wasn't hijacked.

What happens if things now start to move into another space?

Well, Mozilla has to move to once again fulfill its mission—a mission of accessibility—in that other environment.

How quickly does it have to move?

Are artificial intelligence and LLMs really ALREADY a new space?

Aren't they perhaps moving too fast for something that is still very much about marketing, in the sense that the announcement is still greater than the realization?

Have mobile apps erased the web space despite having created a different one?

I believe that these types of proposals and movements are a magnificent opportunity for us to recognize the true importance of those components we constantly interact with: a browser, a prompt, a terminal, a voice device, an app...

they are also a business model, a market, a new way of living and working.

We neglect their function too much.