Mozilla president Mark Surman is building what he calls “a rebel alliance” to challenge major artificial intelligence (AI) companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. The 56-year-old president of the nonprofit organisation known for its Firefox browser and commitment to keeping the internet open and accessible to all is creating a network focused on making AI more open and trustworthy. In a recent interview, Surman revealed that he is assembling a loose network of tech startups, developers and public interest technologists for the same. Having previously competed with Microsoft in the browser market in the early 2000s and Apple and Google in subsequent years, Mozilla is familiar with playing the role of underdog. Surman is now focused on the tech industry’s influence over AI, recognising it’s too large of a challenge for Mozilla to tackle alone. The alliance aims to check the power of industry heavyweights and provide an alternative approach to AI development.“It’s that spirit that a bunch of people are banding together to create something good in the world and take on this thing that threatens us. It’s super corny, but people totally get it.” Surman told CNBC in an interview.
How Mozilla is planning to take on OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies
According to a recent report shared by the organisation, Mozilla is focused on deploying its roughly $1.4 billion worth of reserves to support “mission-driven” tech businesses and nonprofits, including its own. It’s pursuing investments that promote AI transparency and can potentially act as a counterforce to companies that are growing rapidly with limited guardrails.However, Mozilla faces a substantial disadvantage financially. In 2022, it launched a venture capital fund called Mozilla Ventures and pledged to invest an initial $35 million in early-stage companies. It’s now seeking to raise additional funds.Mozilla’s cash reserves are dwarfed by OpenAI, which has raised more than $60 billion from investors across the globe, and its rival Anthropic, which has raised more than $30 billion, according to PitchBook. Tech companies like Google and Meta are also spending heavily, allocating billions of dollars to hire AI researchers and tens of billions a year to build out large data centres.Mozilla’s challenge is even harder due to the Trump administration’s position on AI, as it is determined to stay ahead of China in the global AI race and has been quick to criticise companies, states, and lawmakers that are seen as potential threats to that goal.However, Surman remains committed and says Mozilla will be able to help “do for AI what we did for the web.”“There is an alternative that’s real and is emerging, and it’s a lot of small pieces that add up to that alternative. The people in it are hungry to look where there’s weak spots in the current market and take advantage of them,” Surman noted.The company’s process started long before generative AI became popular. In 2019, Surman shifted the charitable and advocacy efforts of the Mozilla Foundation to focus on “trustworthy AI”.By 2023, Mozilla had launched its venture firm and its own AI company, Mozilla.ai. The following year, Surman said Mozilla’s leadership agreed that keeping AI “trustworthy and open” was a fight worth pursuing.While its main priority remains growing and investing in Firefox, investing in the rebel alliance is “at the heart of who Mozilla is today,” the company’s report noted. Moreover, supporting startups is central to that approach. Mozilla Ventures has invested in more than 55 companies to date, including dozens of AI startups, with more deals to come in 2026.When it comes to the big companies in AI, Surman cautioned that a “winner-takes-all” mentality still exists behind their open-source efforts. He said their contributions to open-source communities by the tech majors are welcome, but that those same companies will “eat you if you’re not careful.”Surman also acknowledged that he has to take a long-term approach. By 2028, he wants Mozilla to be funding a growing open-source AI ecosystem that’s on its way to becoming “mainstream” for developers. He’s even determined to prove that Mozilla’s approach is economically viable.Mozilla is targeting a series of financial metrics over the next few years, including 20% annual growth in non-search revenue, the company’s report added.“For many people, the idea that open-source AI can win, or this rebel alliance, that those players can actually take a piece of the market, they find it hard to believe. But there’s a bunch of trends that are underway,” Surman explained.
