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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

#321

I'm going to chime in here, I think 1. This is great and Mozilla is listening to it's core fans and 2. I want Firefox to be a competitive browser. Without AI enabled features + agent mode being first class citizens, this will be a non-starter in 2 years. I want my non-tech family members/friends to install Firefox not because I come over at Christmas, but because they want to. Because it's a browser that "just works.…

Fully disagree. I use zero so-called "AI" features in my day to day life. None. Not one. Why do I need them in my browser, and why does my browser need to focus on something that, several years into the hype wave, I still *do not use at all*? And it's not for a lack of trying, the results are just not what I need or want, and traditional browsing (and search engines, etc.) does do what I want. I'd be elated if Firefo…

> I use zero so-called "AI" features in my day to day life. None. Not one.

I know so many people who made that same argument, if you can call it that, about smartphones.

I recently listened to a podcast (probably The Verge) talking about how an author was suddenly getting more purchases from his personal website. He attributed it to AI chatbots giving his personal website as the best place to buy rather than Amazon, etc. An AI browser might be a way to take power away from all the big players.

> And it's not for a lack of trying, the results are just not what I need or want, and traditional browsing (and search engines, etc.) does do what I want.

I suspect I only Google for about 1/4 of things I used to (maybe less). Why search, wade through dubious results, etc when you can just instantly get the result you want in the format you want it?

While I am a techie and I do use Firefox -- that's not a growing niche. I think AI will become spectacularly better for non-techies because it can simply give them what they ask for. LLMs have solved the natural language query issue.

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

#322
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?

Tor Browser, Mullvad Browser and PaleMoon browser (a modern browser, though it doesn't support webextensions).

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

#323

I'm going to chime in here, I think 1. This is great and Mozilla is listening to it's core fans and 2. I want Firefox to be a competitive browser. Without AI enabled features + agent mode being first class citizens, this will be a non-starter in 2 years. I want my non-tech family members/friends to install Firefox not because I come over at Christmas, but because they want to. Because it's a browser that "just works.…

> Without AI enabled features + agent mode being first class citizens, this will be a non-starter in 2 years. The confidence with which people say these things... s/AI/NFT and I've heard this exact sentence many times before.

Comparing LLMs to NFT isn't fair. Being able to talk to you computer and have it understand you and even do the things you ask is literally StarTrek technology.

I've never seen a technology so advanced be so dismissed before.

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

#324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

On a different tack, I feel like I went out of my way to use Firefox (and Firefox Focus) on iOS and was thankful they had them during a time where everything had to use the safari renderer. IIRC Firefox Focus even had an ad-block extension that worked on safari

Firefox / Focus (like all browsers on ios) actually uses the "Safari renderer" (WebKit) because Apple doesn't allow any other browser engine on ios.

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

#325

I'm going to chime in here, I think 1. This is great and Mozilla is listening to it's core fans and 2. I want Firefox to be a competitive browser. Without AI enabled features + agent mode being first class citizens, this will be a non-starter in 2 years. I want my non-tech family members/friends to install Firefox not because I come over at Christmas, but because they want to. Because it's a browser that "just works.…

> Without AI enabled features + agent mode being first class citizens, this will be a non-starter in 2 years.

LOL

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

#327

I'm going to chime in here, I think 1. This is great and Mozilla is listening to it's core fans and 2. I want Firefox to be a competitive browser. Without AI enabled features + agent mode being first class citizens, this will be a non-starter in 2 years. I want my non-tech family members/friends to install Firefox not because I come over at Christmas, but because they want to. Because it's a browser that "just works.…

> 1. This is great and Mozilla is listening to it's core fans

It's not great. Great would be "we'll stop wasting money on extraneous features and we'll concentrate on making Firefox the best browser".

This is damage control.

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

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fully disagree. I use zero so-called "AI" features in my day to day life. None. Not one. Why do I need them in my browser, and why does my browser need to focus on something that, several years into the hype wave, I still *do not use at all*? And it's not for a lack of trying, the results are just not what I need or want, and traditional browsing (and search engines, etc.) does do what I want. I'd be elated if Firefo…

> I use zero so-called "AI" features in my day to day life. None. Not one. I know so many people who made that same argument, if you can call it that, about smartphones. I recently listened to a podcast (probably The Verge) talking about how an author was suddenly getting more purchases from his personal website. He attributed it to AI chatbots giving his personal website as the best place to buy rather than Amazon,…

> Why ... wade through dubious results, etc when you can just instantly get the result you want in the format you want it?

Funnily enough, this is exactly how I justify Googling stuff instead of asking Gemini. Different strokes I guess!

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

#329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fully disagree. I use zero so-called "AI" features in my day to day life. None. Not one. Why do I need them in my browser, and why does my browser need to focus on something that, several years into the hype wave, I still *do not use at all*? And it's not for a lack of trying, the results are just not what I need or want, and traditional browsing (and search engines, etc.) does do what I want. I'd be elated if Firefo…

> I use zero so-called "AI" features in my day to day life. None. Not one. I know so many people who made that same argument, if you can call it that, about smartphones. I recently listened to a podcast (probably The Verge) talking about how an author was suddenly getting more purchases from his personal website. He attributed it to AI chatbots giving his personal website as the best place to buy rather than Amazon,…

> I know so many people who made that same argument, if you can call it that, about smartphones.

Sure, but people also told me I'd be using crypto for everything now and (at least for me) it has faded into total obscurity.

The biggest difference for me is that nobody (the companies making things, the companies I worked for...) had to jam smartphones down my throat. It made my life better so I went out of my way to use it. If you took it away, I would be sad.

I haven't had that moment yet for any AI product / feature.

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