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Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

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Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#71

Post by yoavm »

WhyOhWhyQ wrote: post #51
yoavm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love threads about Mozilla. New CEO says he's not going to remove adblockers, people suspect him for planning to remove adblockers. Mozilla says they'll add a killswitch for all AI features (so that the tiny but vocal anti-AI minority will be happy), and people blame them for not having it as an enable-switch. Whatever they do, they simply cannot win. I'm personally starting to suspect the main issue with Mozilla i…

Sounds like robust criticism is having an effect. Why would you not be happy with the situation?

I am happy with the situation. Firefox still allows me to customize my userChrome, remove features I don't like and it even has vertical tabs. It supports uBlock origin, runs great in Android. It's a really good browser. I don't think there's a problem with complaining; What I find unfair is the reaction when Mozilla finally does the right thing.

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#72

Post by School-Cotton »

smlavine wrote: post #67
School-Cotton wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> simple, obvious answer to the effect of "yes, we understand extensions are a core feature of our browser and we plan to fully support extensions on Fenix and won't consider it done until we do". Instead, they talked about whitelisting a handful of extensions, and took three years from shipping Fenix as stable before they had a broad open extension ecosystem up and running again. That answer is not as obvious to me…

I use Firefox on Android perhaps entirely because it supports uBlock Origin and my other extensions. I would guess that of people that would ever go out of their way to use a non-Chrome browser on Android , the fraction who care about extensions is pretty significant.

I would agree that it's probably significant. But it's probably not so high that a non-extensions-enabled Firefox for Android wouldn't be useful.

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#73

Post by eps »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #26
yoavm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love threads about Mozilla. New CEO says he's not going to remove adblockers, people suspect him for planning to remove adblockers. Mozilla says they'll add a killswitch for all AI features (so that the tiny but vocal anti-AI minority will be happy), and people blame them for not having it as an enable-switch. Whatever they do, they simply cannot win. I'm personally starting to suspect the main issue with Mozilla i…

> New CEO says he's not going to remove adblockers, people suspect him for planning to remove adblockers. New CEO says they've run the numbers and decided to not kill adblockers, leading to people asking why exactly they were running those numbers (if it was an actual ideological commitment, the numbers wouldn't matter). > Mozilla says they'll add a killswitch for all AI features (so that the tiny but vocal anti-AI m…

Amen.

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#74

Post by homebrewer »

JoeBOFH wrote: post #69
School-Cotton wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> simple, obvious answer to the effect of "yes, we understand extensions are a core feature of our browser and we plan to fully support extensions on Fenix and won't consider it done until we do". Instead, they talked about whitelisting a handful of extensions, and took three years from shipping Fenix as stable before they had a broad open extension ecosystem up and running again. That answer is not as obvious to me…

I am speaking from only my personal experience, but I would say the vast majority of Firefox users are using Firefox to avoid Chrome and Chrome likes. That being said I would say they are then more likely and inclined to also utilize extensions.

According to Mozilla's own stats, most Firefox users do not have any extensions at all:

> Has Add-on shows the percentage of Firefox Desktop clients with user-installed add-ons.

> December 8, 2025

> 45.4%

https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/usage-behavior

Note that language packs are counted as extensions.

Some have disabled telemetry, of course, but how many? Here we can only rely on our own observations, and of all Firefox users I know, it's zero.

(I keep it enabled because I want my voice to be counted — people who have never lived in an autocracy tend to have peculiar views on this.)

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#75

Post by driverdan »

butz wrote: post #40

Firefox should release a separate build - "base", "core", "classic" - clearly, I am not a marketing person, but idea behind it, that this is only a browser without any extra features added. No "AI", no studies, no account sync. Only bare minimum browser, that allows user to do their internet things and, if they ever desire, will install all extra bells and whistles as extensions. No need to agree to any EULA either (…

Firefox should be a browser, period. It should render pages. All other features should be extensions.

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#76

Post by glenstein »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #26
yoavm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love threads about Mozilla. New CEO says he's not going to remove adblockers, people suspect him for planning to remove adblockers. Mozilla says they'll add a killswitch for all AI features (so that the tiny but vocal anti-AI minority will be happy), and people blame them for not having it as an enable-switch. Whatever they do, they simply cannot win. I'm personally starting to suspect the main issue with Mozilla i…

> New CEO says he's not going to remove adblockers, people suspect him for planning to remove adblockers. New CEO says they've run the numbers and decided to not kill adblockers, leading to people asking why exactly they were running those numbers (if it was an actual ideological commitment, the numbers wouldn't matter). > Mozilla says they'll add a killswitch for all AI features (so that the tiny but vocal anti-AI m…

The creator of VLC has publicly noted dollar amounts they could raise if they either sold or compromised VLC, but it came and went without controversy. OBS Studio, 7-Zip, Notepad++, and Nextcloud have all published offers they've received and declined, or quoted per-install payment figures. In fact, it's practically a rite of passage for open source projects to talk about the value of their work in terms of what they could monetize but choose not to.

Communicating about what you're knowingly rejecting is a point of pride, not a confession. But since there's no such thing as an OBS, or Nextcloud, or VLC Derangement syndrome, nobody grabs the pitchforks in those cases.

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#77

Post by Loudergood »

t1234s wrote: post #34

Is there a fork of firefox where you have all the same core functionality and support for extensions but with all the mozilla services (pocket, safe browsing, forced crap on the new tab page, any AI service, etc...) removed?

Pocket has been gone for awhile now. Is it really that hard to uncheck some boxes to turn this all off?

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#78

Post by eps »

netsharc wrote: post #61
jamesgill wrote: post #2

Why not make them disabled by default , with the option to turn them on?

I think Facebook did a study that making options opt-in means only a tiny tiny percentage of users will ever activate them. People never look around in settings. I suppose if - after you click away the popup that says "Thank you for loving Firefox"(1) - a popup shows that says "Hey, hey, look at me, look we have this new feature, it'll blow you away. Do you want to enable it?" would be obnoxious but satisfies the ide…

Don't need to run studies to understand that.

If it's off be default it will stay off unless the user is somehow made to try it. Default opt-in is one option to do that, the simplest one, but it's not the only one. The rest require explaining clearly what the user will get out of enabling it ... and that often is difficult to do succinctly, or convincingly. So shovelling it down everyone's throat it is.

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#79

Post by wtallis »

School-Cotton wrote: post #62
wtallis wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla has a recurring problem with being unable to provide the simple, obvious right answer . When they re-wrote Firefox for Android, they were unable to give the simple, obvious answer to the effect of "yes, we understand extensions are a core feature of our browser and we plan to fully support extensions on Fenix and won't consider it done until we do". Instead, they talked about whitelisting a handful of extensi…

> simple, obvious answer to the effect of "yes, we understand extensions are a core feature of our browser and we plan to fully support extensions on Fenix and won't consider it done until we do". Instead, they talked about whitelisting a handful of extensions, and took three years from shipping Fenix as stable before they had a broad open extension ecosystem up and running again. That answer is not as obvious to me…

Why do you use 1password on non-phone devices?

Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features

#80

Post by dntbrsnbl »

kevin061 wrote: post #35
reidrac wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vivaldi is not open source. Not quite an option.

https://vivaldi.com/source/

I think the UI code is not open source (so you can't build the browser yourself).

https://vivaldi.com/blog/technology/why-isnt-vivaldi-browser...

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