Mozilla president: meet open source ‘revolutionaries’ who could break Big Tech’s grip on AI
Much of the public discussion about AI today focuses on what it can do. New capabilities appear almost every week, and with it come understandable questions about security, trust, and control. But the most important questions are: Who controls the infrastructure behind AI? And what standards are they designed to protect?
Answering those questions will shape not only how AI works, but whose interests it works on. Like governments, businesses, and citizens face the future of AI, we have a significant opportunity today to ensure that the building blocks of AI support humanity by design. The decisions we make now will determine whether AI continues to be something owned and directed by a small number of actors – or a resource that can be shaped and governed more broadly in the public interest.
This became even more apparent recently, when the US government’s action to stop access to Mythos shocked governments and companies around the world, raising concerns about one government’s ability to cut off technology used by others.
Encouragingly, a new direction is beginning to emerge, led by the middle powers. At this year’s meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney challenged middle powers like his – countries with the ability to build a world “that includes our values, such as respect for human rights, sustainable development, unity, sovereignty.”, and the integrity of the place.” Canada also released its national AI strategy, which prioritizes the development of open source AI technologies.
Recently, the European Union joined Canada in “putting open source at the center of the EU’s technological sovereignty.” This includes commitments to support open source alternatives across the AI stack, support for startups, and developing new public procurement guidelines that put the EU’s thumb on the scale in favor of open source innovation. Countries from Germany to Japan are looking at ways to integrate open source into their national strategies, while the UK has announced an Open Source Developer Fund, which aims to make Britain “the home of global open source AI talent.”
Open source is emerging as a powerful form of consensus and the private sector continues.
Research has shown that open source technology has created more than $8.8 trillion in demand value: firms would have to spend 3.5 times more on software than they do now if open source did not exist. Entrepreneurs and researchers build and use open source AI tools, models, and data sets that reflect local needs and perspectives. Developers are quickly gravitating to open source AI. A recent study by a16z and OpenRouter found that open source models grew from about 1-2% of token volume in late 2024 to about 30% in mid-2025 – a clear sign of momentum among developers, and a significant business opportunity.
Unlike AI technology that is owned and controlled by a few large companies, open source AI is available to everyone. That doesn’t just mean governments and companies can own the infrastructure they build on – it means anyone can look under the hood. That transparency is what makes AI safe and responsive by design.
At Mozilla, we often talk about building technology that enhances human agency rather than replacing it. In December 2022, we amended our basic Manifesto with the Pledge for a Healthy Internet, which focuses on four commitments: that the Internet should include all people; to improve public discourse, human dignity, and individual speech; promote critical thinking and verified facts; and promoting cooperation in all communities working for mutual benefit.
That’s the way Canada, EU, and other middle powers are leading the way – in partnership with private companies hungry for AI alternatives to the closed models that dominate today.
AI has great potential, but growing uneasiness surrounds its direction and who controls it. The solution is building an open, honest AI, and showing the diversity of voices outside of Silicon Valley and China’s AI labs. That future can only be built by a centralized, open coalition committed to ensuring that AI works for people – not the other way around.
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