---
title: "Firefox's AI assistant now runs on Mistral models in France"
url: https://blog.vomini.com/blog/firefox-smart-window-mistral-france
date: 2026-09-17T13:20:00+00:00
updated: 2026-10-27T22:42:19.119236+00:00
author: "Roberto R."
section: "News"
language: en
site: "Vomini"
license: free to quote with attribution
---

# Firefox's AI assistant now runs on Mistral models in France

> Mozilla's Firefox Smart Window, an AI browsing assistant in beta, began rolling out in France with Mistral as a model provider. Mozilla says conversations are not saved on its servers by default, and Mistral says it…

On 16 September, Mistral announced that Firefox Smart Window, Mozilla's AI browsing assistant, now uses Mistral models. The same day, Mozilla said Smart Window had started rolling out in France, in French, its first expansion beyond the United States and Canada. Mistral says it will power Smart Window for users in France and North America, with the United Kingdom and Germany expected later this year.

Smart Window is still in beta. It is an optional side assistant inside Firefox that can answer questions about what you are reading, help organize open tabs and help you find a page you saw before.

## What it does today

According to Mozilla, Smart Window can fetch current web information through a search partner, Exa, and show the sources behind an answer without sending you to a separate results page. It can suggest groups for related tabs, close duplicate tabs and show visual previews of pages in your history. Mozilla says it is also working on having Smart Window help fill out online forms, with you choosing what it can access.

Mozilla says you choose when to use it, which browsing context it can see and which AI model it uses, and that a single settings area called AI Controls lets you turn it off entirely.

## The privacy terms

Mistral's post says conversations in Smart Window are not saved on Mozilla's servers by default, and that partners like Mistral agree to zero data retention, meaning they do not keep your prompts after answering. Mistral also says it fine-tunes its models on regional languages and dialects, which is part of the case for a French model serving French users.

Neither post gives figures on how many people use Smart Window, and Mozilla does not say how the choice between model providers works in each country.

## What to do if you are curious

If you use Firefox in France or North America, you can download the Smart Window beta from Mozilla's site and open the AI Controls panel first, before using it, to see what browsing context it is allowed to read. Share only the tabs you need for the task.

## What we think

A browser assistant can see a lot: your tabs, your history, soon your forms. Starting from optional sharing, with a no-retention promise from the model provider, is the right order of things. We would still like to find the retention terms written in Mozilla's own privacy notice, next to the partner's announcement.

## Sources

- [Mistral AI](https://mistral.ai/news/mistral-x-mozilla/), 16 Sep 2026
- [Mozilla](https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/firefox-smart-window/), 16 Sep 2026


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Originally published at https://blog.vomini.com/blog/firefox-smart-window-mistral-france