Mozilla Corp., the nonprofit behind the Firefox browser, is rallying a coalition of startups and developers to challenge the dominance of OpenAI and Anthropic in artificial intelligence. Dubbed a ‘rebel alliance’ by President Mark Surman, the effort draws from Mozilla’s history of disrupting tech giants like Microsoft through open-source collaboration. With $1.4 billion in reserves, Mozilla aims to fund mission-driven AI projects emphasizing transparency, safety and openness, contrasting the for-profit trajectories of its targets.

Surman, operating from his farm outside Toronto, envisions deploying these funds via Mozilla Ventures, which launched in 2022 with $35 million and has backed over 55 companies, including dozens in AI. The initiative targets startups like Trail, a German AI governance firm; Transformer Lab, a Canadian open-source AI tool builder; and Oumi, an open platform for model training. ‘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.

The push comes amid criticisms that OpenAI, once a nonprofit committed to advancing digital intelligence without financial returns, pivoted to for-profit status after ChatGPT’s 2022 success, reaching a $500 billion valuation. Anthropic, founded in 2021 by ex-OpenAI staff prioritizing safety, now boasts a $350 billion valuation and $7 billion run rate, yet faces accusations of regulatory overreach labeled ‘woke AI’ by Trump administration official David Sacks.

Mozilla’s Arsenal: Cash and Open-Source Legacy

Mozilla’s financial firepower, though dwarfed by OpenAI’s $60 billion and Anthropic’s $30 billion in funding per PitchBook data, positions it to nurture an alternative ecosystem. Mozilla Ventures plans more 2026 investments, targeting 20% annual growth in non-search revenue. The organization shifted to ‘trustworthy AI’ in 2019, launching Mozilla.ai in 2023 and prioritizing open models by 2024. Surman aims for a mainstream open-source AI stack by 2028, echoing Firefox’s browser revolution.

Partners express enthusiasm tempered by realism. Oumi CEO Manos Koukoumidis, formerly at Microsoft, Facebook and Google, lambasted big players: ‘Even the couple thousand people that are at OpenAI, Anthropic or anywhere else… they’re not enough… What’s happening right now, it’s complete insanity. We’re wasting billions, tens of billions, hundreds of billions.’ Trail co-founder Anna Spitznagel noted collaboration potential on open-source governance frameworks, though she shies from ‘rebel’ rhetoric: ‘Rebel is a word that for me, personally, it has the wrong association.’

Transformer Lab co-founders Tony Salomone and Ali Asaria embrace the underdog vibe. ‘I’m not gonna lie, I sometimes talk that way to get people kind of excited or engaged in our way of thinking,’ Salomone said. Asaria highlighted sustainable companies resisting big-tech monopoly: ‘There’s definitely a group of folks who are interested in this idea of trying to be sustainable companies… but don’t want to see just a few big companies win.’

Big AI’s Pivot: From Mission to Billions

OpenAI’s evolution draws sharp scrutiny. Founded in 2015 as a nonprofit, it restructured post-ChatGPT, recapitalizing as for-profit in October 2025 amid Elon Musk’s lawsuit alleging betrayal of founding ideals. Musk, who left in 2018, sued in 2023; trial is set for April. OpenAI dismissed it as ‘harassment.’ Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei defended growth: ‘We’ve managed to do this while deploying AI thoughtfully and responsibly,’ per his blog, as revenue surged from $1 billion to $7 billion in nine months.

Critics decry a ‘winner-takes-all’ approach, with big tech pouring billions into talent and data centers while shortcutting safety. Surman warned: ‘Their contributions to open-source communities are welcome, but… they will ‘eat you if you’re not careful.’ Koukoumidis added the bigger objective ‘is dominance… they’re taking a lot of shortcuts.’ High barriers—$100 million-plus entry costs, IP control—stifle startups.

Mozilla’s 2024 ‘State of Mozilla’ report invoked the ‘rebel alliance’ that toppled Microsoft’s browser grip via Firefox, Linux and others. A 2020 report mapped this contributor network’s power against surveillance and misinformation, now extended to AI centralization risks.

Policy Headwinds and Startup Realities

The Trump administration’s December 2025 executive order pushes U.S. AI supremacy via national regulation, challenging state laws and scrutinizing firms like Anthropic. Sacks criticized Anthropic’s stances in October 2025. Mozilla eyes fundraising beyond reserves, proving open AI’s viability. Surman: ‘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.’

While recent Agentic AI Foundation efforts by OpenAI, Anthropic and others under Linux Foundation promote agent standards—like Anthropic’s MCP and OpenAI’s Agents.md—these are seen by Mozilla allies as insufficient against proprietary dominance. No direct responses from OpenAI or Anthropic to Mozilla’s moves, per CNBC.

Mozilla’s playbook leverages its manifesto values—privacy, openness, trust—building on Common Voice’s 100+ language datasets and campaigns yielding Slack blocks and YouTube data access. The rebel alliance seeks to replicate open web success, fostering diverse voices against AI silos.

Path to Mainstream Disruption