Firefox’s Smart Window grows up: a privacy-first AI helper built into your browser

Mozilla is quietly turning Firefox into a more capable AI‑assisted browser with an update to “Firefox Smart Window,” an optional side‑panel that adds an AI chat view next to the page you’re looking at. Smart Window can summarize the current site, answer questions about it and help you with follow‑up research, all without forcing you to switch between separate apps or copy‑paste URLs. In the latest update, Mozilla has partnered with search startup Exa so the assistant can pull in fresh web results and show inline source links, making it more useful for fact‑checking and general browsing.

The new release also leans into tab and history management. Firefox’s AI can now suggest grouping related tabs and closing duplicates based on what you’re actually doing, reducing the “tab overload” many users struggle with. Natural‑language history search has been upgraded as well, so vague queries like “that article about solar panels I read last week” are more likely to surface the right page, complete with visual previews. Smart Window remains opt‑in and is currently available as an English‑only beta for users in the U.S. and Canada, reflecting Mozilla’s attempt to blend deep AI integration with a conservative, privacy‑first rollout strategy.