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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

#331

Post by bayindirh »

ragequittah wrote: post #292
bayindirh wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currently disable switch is right next to AI chat bot settings. It’s pretty on your face.

I've been really confused as to what all the hubub is about. I think I saw the sidebar for about 4 seconds on each of my installs before I hid it forever. I tried to reenable it to see what people were complaining about but couldn't find it within 10 seconds so gave up.

AFAIK, you can't enable them without resetting things in about:config. So it's a "big red button", and that's a good thing.

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

#332

Post by Izkata »

protocolture wrote: post #268
samschooler wrote: post #23

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.…

> Because it's a browser that "just works." We can't have this if Firefox stays in the pre-ai era. Strongly disagree. Theres no expectation of AI as a core browsing experience. There isnt even really an expectation of AI as part of an extended browsing experience. We cant even predict reliably what AI's relationship to browsing will be if it is even to exist. Mozilla could reliably wait 24 months and follow if featur…

> Mozilla could reliably wait 24 months and follow if features are actually in demand and being used.

I'm also wondering how much of what they come up with could be implemented as an addon instead of a core part of the browser.

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

#333

Post by darkwater »

rockskon wrote: post #314
krisgenre wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+ Children are growing up with ChatGPT and Gemini. It has already become the de facto standard for learning. AI in browsers is inevitable.

????? Why does the existance of an AI chat box website mean a browser must do more than take you to that website? The forceful inclusion of LLMs in places that have no value are simultaneously ubiquitous and obnoxious.

"why do I have to go and fill with copy paste that form or navigate through that page to do $something if that AI browser can do it for me?"

And in that scenario, there is a GIGANTIC need for a user-first, privacy-respecting browser using ideally local models (in a few years, when HW is ready)

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

#334

Post by happymellon »

wvenable wrote: post #321
klardotsh wrote: post #319

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 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 had to use a ledger database at work for audit trails because they were hotness. I think we were one of the few that actually used AWS QLDB.

The experience I've had with people submitting AI generated code has been poor. Poor performing code, poor quality code using deprecated methods and overly complex functionality, and then poor understanding of why the various models chose to do it that way.

I've not actually seen a selling point for me, and "because Google is enshittifying its searches" is pretty weak.

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

#335

Post by wvenable »

entropy47 wrote: post #329
wvenable wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 us…

Any AI product I pay for is great. Any AI product I don't pay for is terrible.

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

#336

Post by rk06 »

lawtalkinghuman wrote: post #46
jamesgill wrote: post #2

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

They could even make the AI features available as extensions, downloadable from addons.mozilla.org That way, the users who want them can download them, and the users who don't, don't.

to pump adoption number. it is well known that adoption rate is much higher when people are forced to opt-in be default.

because no one in right mind, would opt-in AI seriously. and definitely never on corporate machine

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

#337

Post by rockskon »

darkwater wrote: post #333
rockskon wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

????? Why does the existance of an AI chat box website mean a browser must do more than take you to that website? The forceful inclusion of LLMs in places that have no value are simultaneously ubiquitous and obnoxious.

"why do I have to go and fill with copy paste that form or navigate through that page to do $something if that AI browser can do it for me?" And in that scenario, there is a GIGANTIC need for a user-first, privacy-respecting browser using ideally local models (in a few years, when HW is ready)

Again: ???????

You people need to be forced to use your product in the exact form your product is presented to end users. With the exact frequency it's presented to end users. In all the wrong places as it is presented to end users.

Maybe then you'll understand why shoving AI in every conceivable crevice is incredibly obnoxious and distracting and, most importantly, not useful.

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

#338

Post by charcircuit »

protocolture wrote: post #268
samschooler wrote: post #23

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.…

> Because it's a browser that "just works." We can't have this if Firefox stays in the pre-ai era. Strongly disagree. Theres no expectation of AI as a core browsing experience. There isnt even really an expectation of AI as part of an extended browsing experience. We cant even predict reliably what AI's relationship to browsing will be if it is even to exist. Mozilla could reliably wait 24 months and follow if featur…

This is how Firefox fell behind Chrome and bled their entire market share. The strategy of letting Chrome out innovate them and then copy what they think is good is not a strategy that works.

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

#339

Post by wvenable »

happymellon wrote: post #334
wvenable wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 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 had to use a ledger database at work for audit trails because they were hotness. I think we were one of the few that actually used AWS QLDB. The experience I've had with people submitting AI generated code has been poor. Poor performing code, p…

I've been posting recently how I refactored a few different code bases with the help of AI. Faster code, higher quality code, overall smaller. AI is not a hammer, it's a Lathe: incredibly powerful but only if you understand exactly what you're doing otherwise it will happily make a big mess.

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

#340

Post by andai »

samschooler wrote: post #23

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.…

At this point they should just bring back Eich and go fully trad ;)
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