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Disable AI in Firefox

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71–80 of 161 posts

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#71
post #46

Feels like people making a big deal out of it. You can also just, you know, not use these features. I can't remember the last time I use the "Print" dialog, the "Manage bookmarks" or the "Homepage" button. But these things don't have AI in their name, so people aren't so obsessed with removing them. IMHO just like many companies are obsessed with adding AI features, some users are obsessed with rejecting them. Both s…

Even if you don’t use them they still keep popping up popups which are distracting and make them violate WCAG for people with attention problems such as ADHD.

Not sure what I'm doing differently, but using Firefox Dev Edition on Linux, I don't recall ever seeing a popup.

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#72
post #5

I've used Firefox for 15 years and I really don't want to use Chrome. Can Mozilla just, like, make a good browser?

Not defending mozilla adding AI to firefox, but...

If you've tried chrome recently, you'll know that it's jam packed full with even more stuff you don't want. And the article lays out how to easily disable all AI in firefox (which you cant do at all in Chrome)

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#73
post #58
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they make a pretty good browser. It is performant, supports blocking ads easily, standard compatible, customizable and recently even added support for vertical tabs. What are you missing?

Personally (I’m not the person you asked) I’m missing AppleScript support. Firefox is the only major browser without it, and the bug report for it is old enough to drink in every country. That lack of capability prevents it from being my daily driver, even if the rest were good enough (I’m not saying it isn’t, I’m saying I have no reason to find out). I am certain I have inadvertently pushed many people away from Fir…

Interesting! The last time I used a Mac was many years ago, so I'm not sure what would you do with AppleScript in the browser. What are some example use cases?

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#74

Mozilla could have had the no-nonsense, high performance browser backend that everyone uses to build their own browsers (like the recent glut of AI browsers), instead of everyone using Chromium/Blink. In the past, Gecko was really the go-to choice for this. They almost had a second shot with Servo. But they kinda really dropped the ball on the technical capability of the browser while continuing to be distracted by a…

Gecko was always hard to embed, which is why WebKit was developed by Apple and then widespread in open source projects.

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#75
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally (I’m not the person you asked) I’m missing AppleScript support. Firefox is the only major browser without it, and the bug report for it is old enough to drink in every country. That lack of capability prevents it from being my daily driver, even if the rest were good enough (I’m not saying it isn’t, I’m saying I have no reason to find out). I am certain I have inadvertently pushed many people away from Fir…

MacOS, Linux, FreeBSD and everything else squeeze into just 15% of Firefox's user base. https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/hardware They're really not going to be able to dedicate resources to something as bijou as AppleScript.

> They're really not going to be able to dedicate resources to something as bijou as AppleScript.

They don’t need to do it themselves, they could just not stifle the efforts of third-parties who do want to and have worked on it. Multiple people started on it over the years and were simply ignored by the devs.

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#76
post #37
post #5

I've used Firefox for 15 years and I really don't want to use Chrome. Can Mozilla just, like, make a good browser?

I think they make a pretty good browser. It is performant, supports blocking ads easily, standard compatible, customizable and recently even added support for vertical tabs. What are you missing?

I recently discovered that the sponsored sites on the homepage I had previously removed have reappeared. I've had similar issues with a few of the buttons on the browser chrome I had also removed. I'll still use it because I don't want to deal with the security and privacy nightmare that is ads. But it's a bit annoying to have to play this game of whack 'a mole.

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#77
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use Brave. It’s de-googled, privacy-centric chromium with built-in uBlock-style ad/tracker blocking. Best of both worlds!

There are some good reasons to consider not using Brave: https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/

Still going to use Brave though.

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#78
post #5

I've used Firefox for 15 years and I really don't want to use Chrome. Can Mozilla just, like, make a good browser?

Yes, because as we all know, Google would never shove AI or ads in your face.

I disagree with Mozilla here, too - but you can't cast Chrome as a magic spell. Chrome sucks ass. Google sucks ass. It's trivial to suck less ass than Google.

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#79
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use Brave. It’s de-googled, privacy-centric chromium with built-in uBlock-style ad/tracker blocking. Best of both worlds!

There are some good reasons to consider not using Brave: https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-brave-browser/

this is from 2023 and is also mostly wrong on almost all accounts, basically FUD

Re: Disable AI in Firefox

#80
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MacOS, Linux, FreeBSD and everything else squeeze into just 15% of Firefox's user base. https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/hardware They're really not going to be able to dedicate resources to something as bijou as AppleScript.

> They're really not going to be able to dedicate resources to something as bijou as AppleScript. They don’t need to do it themselves, they could just not stifle the efforts of third-parties who do want to and have worked on it. Multiple people started on it over the years and were simply ignored by the devs.

Probably because they don't want to take on that maintenance burden. Even just letting someone do that and merging it in is opening up a whooooole can of worms.
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