As Chairwoman of the Mozilla Foundation and CEO of Mozilla Corporation, Mitchell Baker keeps watch on the state of the internet. So how’s it looking these days? As she puts it: “Mixed!”
In a world where “engagement drives revenue and outrage drives engagement,” she says, the internet is proving to be questionable for our health, our happiness and the maintenance of democracy. “The question is what to do about it.”
“Sam Altman has described himself as being in the middle but there are plenty of people who’ve left who feel that middle is too far along the line”
Baker looks to the lessons she learned as intellectual property lawyer for Netscape and a pioneer in the building the Mozilla community. Although Netscape Navigator was the dominant browser of the early internet in the 1990s, its market share plummeted when Microsoft bundled the rival Internet Explorer as part of Windows. To survive, the team created what ultimately became a not-for-profit Mozilla Foundation to open source its technology, which ultimately led to the creation of Firefox, along with other apps, code and tools.
Last year, it adapted that model to create a startup called Mozilla.ai, investing $30 million to help create an independent open-source AI ecosystem that would be inclusive and ethical in its approach.
In Baker’s view, GenAI technology is too important to leave to the whims of free-market capitalism. She knows the titans of tech don’t have a strong record in putting diversity and ethics first. “There’s a question of where you think the middle of the road is,” says Baker. “Sam Altman (of OpenAI) has described himself as being in the middle but there are plenty of people who’ve left, feeling that middle is too far along the line.”
For more, click on the interview above.
