Mozilla has announced the founding of an open-source initiative to develop artificial intelligence, Search Engine Journal reports.

It will put transparency, accountability and reliability at the forefront of open source AI products to counter Microsoft, OpenAI and Google. Many of the most important software products we use every day, such as Android, WordPress, PHP, Nginx and Apache, are open source.
Mozilla has pledged $30 million to develop an alternative to the closed systems developed by big tech companies that put profits first.

Mozilla’s approach, like everything else they create, will be human-first.

Mozilla is committed to helping create an Internet that hews to the following principles:
-The internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible
Individuals’ security and privacy on the internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional.
-Individuals must have the ability to shape the internet and their own experiences on it.
-Free and open source software promotes the development of the internet as a public resource.
-Transparent community-based processes promote participation, accountability and trust.
-Magnifying the public benefit aspects of the internet is an important goal, worthy of time, attention and commitment.”

The company said it aims to create a decentralized artificial intelligence community to serve as a “counterbalance” to large profit-driven companies. Mozilla is focused on the benefits of AI for humanity, not on turning humans into a commodity.

The announcement states that their first two projects will focus on creating free, reliable, and open source generative AI, which is a product like ChatGPT and Bard. Their second focus is on creating a privacy-oriented recommendation system that “does not misinform or undermine our well-being.”

If it achieves this goal, Mozilla will have made an important contribution to changing what the future of AI will look like.