Mozilla

There's lots to lament and condemn about extractive data practices, but now it's time to build the alternative. Mozilla Data Collective is fighting for a future that is multilingual, multicultural, and multimodal. Led by the lionhearted E.M. Lewis-Jong, the team is incredible and the platform is taking off with thousands of users already. I'm so proud to serve on the board. Also, this is baby's first incubated company! (Me, I'm the baby.) Watch this space for more adventures, prototypes, and spin-outs from Mozilla Foundation as we work towards a more culture-forward vision of tech.

Fast Company’s new piece captures an important moment for Mozilla. With Firefox 148, we’re introducing controls that let people manage or disable AI features — part of a broader strategy rooted in openness, transparency, and user agency. As Mark Surman notes, this work reflects a return to our “rebel alliance” roots: bringing together developers, researchers, investors, and responsible‑tech leaders to build an AI ecosystem that prioritizes public benefit over default‑on automation. Details here: https://lnkd.in/dj-HraQJ

Touch Grass Mode: a browser feature that reminds you to close your tabs, take a break, and step outside. It started as an April Fool's joke, but I think we could all agree we could use this... Should we build it? 👀

Mozilla is doubling down on trustworthy AI. In a recent CNBC feature, Mark Surman outlines how Mozilla is building an AI “rebel alliance” — a network of startups, technologists, and public-interest builders working to keep AI open, transparent, and accountable. AI must be built for the public good. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eM-4iAWj

There are over 7,000 languages spoken in the world today. AI understands only a fraction of them. Not because the data doesn't exist, but because the infrastructure to share it ethically, accessibly, and on community terms hasn't existed...until now🎉 Mozilla Data Collective is home to 470+ high-quality global datasets, spanning languages, regions, and modalities that mainstream AI pipelines have long ignored. From endangered Samoyedic languages to Welsh bilingual speech corpora to Brahui literary texts — the world's linguistic diversity is here, and it's growing. If you're building multilingual or multicultural AI and you're not here yet, you're missing datasets you can't find anywhere else. 🔗 Explore the full collection: https://lnkd.in/epxjvwkH

What if the future of AI isn’t something you own—but something you’re forced to rent? That’s the idea behind “Owners, Not Renters”, a new Substack article from Raffi Krikorian, exploring the real decisions engineers face when building with AI. The first edition breaks down: 1. Why closed AI is winning (for now) 2. Why that’s a design problem—not a permanent reality 3. And how open-source AI can become the better path If you’re building, leading, or even just thinking about AI—this is worth your time. Read and subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/gw7PNJxT  

Firefox 149 is rolling out now, here's what we've been working on for our users. 🌐 Free VPN: Our built-in VPN routes your browser traffic through a proxy to hide your IP address and location while you browse, giving you stronger privacy and protection online with no extra downloads. 👀 Split view: Put two webpages side by side in one window. Reduce friction and keep your flow. 🗒️ Tab notes: Not sure why you're keeping that tab open? Add notes to any tab. (Available in Firefox Labs 149) More updates on Smart Window, privacy upgrades, and personalization features here: https://lnkd.in/ecew6sPm

The AI boom has an infrastructure problem, and indigenous communities are often the ones paying for it. #MozillaFellow Paz Peña breaks down a tension at the heart of the data center expansion—renewable energy is the right way to power these systems, but sourcing that energy requires vast amounts of land that often belongs to or borders indigenous and agricultural communities. Learn more about Mozilla Foundation's fellowship and grant making work here⤵️ https://lnkd.in/gzH6UwuH

Most AI systems were built on data extracted from communities — not shared by them. Mozilla Data Collective exists to change that🎉 MDC is rebuilding the AI data ecosystem with communities at the centre, giving people the tools to share data on their own terms, retain full ownership, and define what benefit looks like for them. Dig in and join Mozilla Data Collective: https://lnkd.in/ezkCj2Wh

Meta is dropping encrypted messages from Instagram DMs from 8 May. User privacy and security should always be the default. Sign Mozilla Foundation's petition and tell Meta not to fix something that's not broken👇 https://bit.ly/4bwGR3P