Enable AI chatbots in Firefox

How to select a chatbot provider in the sidebar

Select the sparkle button from the sidebar. Select a chatbot provider to see more details about it. Select continue when you’re ready to choose. Remember, you can change providers anytime.

How to change chatbot providers

You can switch chatbots at any time, as often as you’d like. For example, you may prefer to use one chatbot for help with writing tasks and another for generating images.

At the top of the sidebar, select the chatbot name. Then, you’ll see a dropdown with all available chatbots. Choose one to switch to.

How to remove the AI chatbot shortcut from your Firefox sidebar

In the sidebar, choose the settings button . In the Customize sidebar panel, uncheck the AI chatbot box in the Firefox tools section. If you want to use it again later, check the box again and follow the steps to select a provider.

Select text to see suggested prompts

Prompts are the instructions you provide to the chatbot, based on what you want it to do. We have pre-written a small number of prompts that are available when you select text.

You can access the prompts either:

• When you select text and right click.
• Through a shortcut that appears when you select text. (You can hide the shortcut if you want.)

If you choose a prompt, Firefox sends it plus the selected text and page title, to the chatbot you’ve chosen.

Each suggested prompt starts with this sentence, where information in [brackets] pulls in based on the page you’re on and your selection. “I’m on page [name of page you’re on] with [text you’ve selected] selected.” The rest of the prompts are as follows.

How to hide the shortcut

There are two ways to hide the shortcut. One way is to select text and then choose Hide chatbot shortcut.

You can also select the more menu from the AI chatbot panel and select Hide shortcut when selecting text.

How AI chatbots work

AI chatbots are powered by technology that can generate text and images, called generative AI – also referred to as “genAI”. This technology does not pull images and text from thin air. Instead, it is trained on massive amounts of data.

When you interact with generative AI, it uses the data it’s been trained on and then predicts likely textual responses or images. The data the model has been trained on, as well as the instructions you input into the chat interface (also called “prompts”), influence and guide what will be generated.

Generative AI predicts likely outputs – but it is not designed to and not guaranteed to provide definitive facts. It generates a result based on your prompts and the data that the AI has been trained on. You should consider carefully whether your prompt is providing the result that you are looking for.

To learn more about generative AI, countless resources are available online. Here are a few suggested starting points (content in English):

• Mozilla blog: How does AI actually work?
• Article: Writing effective prompts, from MIT Sloan Technology Services
• Video: Generative AI explained, from the University of Southern Australia

Frequently asked questions

What information does Firefox send to a provider, when I use their chatbot in the sidebar?

When you open the chatbot in the sidebar, the provider collects the same information as it would if you had visited the chatbot in a regular Firefox tab. If you select text on a webpage or PDF and choose to use one of the suggested prompts, we send your text selection, prompt and page title to the provider.

Are chatbots free to use?

Each chatbot provider we provide access to has a free option. Many also offer paid options. With the free option, use of the chatbot is often restricted in some way – for example, to a certain number of conversations per day, or in the amount and type of information you can share with the chatbot.

Can I trust the information chatbots provide?

AI predicts likely outputs – but it is not designed to and not guaranteed to provide definitive facts. It generates a result based on your prompts and the data that the AI has been trained on, and can make mistakes. You should verify any information you get from chatbots. Learn more about how AI chatbots work.

Some chatbots are not available in my region. Why can I still choose them?

Not all chatbots are available in all regions and locales. We have chosen to not limit choice by region, since the availability of these tools is often changing.

Can the chatbot provider see the conversations I’m having? What does it do with the conversations?

This varies based on the chatbot and, in some cases, the settings you choose for the chatbot. Some chatbots offer an ‘anonymous’ mode. Others offer a way to delete your conversations.

For more information about what each provider does with your conversation and data, check out their terms of service, privacy policies and websites.

Is it safe to share personal information with chatbots?

We do not recommend sharing personal information with chatbots.

Can Firefox see the conversations I’m having?

No. Firefox does not have any access to your conversations with the chatbot or any information about the webpages and selected text that you may send to the chatbot via AI shortcuts. As with other features, we do collect data on how the AI chatbot feature is used to help improve Firefox. For example, we collect interaction data such as how often each provider is chosen and how often suggested prompts are used. Learn more about the interaction and performance data Firefox collects, which we call telemetry.

How do I remove this from Firefox?

In the sidebar, choose the settings icon . In the Customize sidebar panel, uncheck the AI chatbot box in the Firefox tools section.