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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

#461

I think people screaming "but AI is the future" doesn't recognize what the problem is. The problem is not AI. The problem is that Mozilla keeps jumping on fads instead of focusing on their browser core. There are a tons of "we bundled all the latest crap" Chrome forks out there. Nobody needs more those. Stop pushing bells and whistles. Give us more extensibility instead. Keep supporting v2 manifest and add more. Ther…

> The problem is that Mozilla keeps jumping on fads instead of focusing on their browser core No, the problem is that Mozilla needs money if they want to stop leaning off Google, and people are simply too blind by their hatred of AI that doesn't figure out that Mozilla needs money. What is giving shit loads of money right now? A-fucking-I. If their investors portfolio doesn't include AI on their products, nobody will…

Mozilla could instead stop giving all the google money to a CEO who only knows how to say "me too! AI too!"

Maybe hire some engineers instead?

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

#462

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…

AI tools are here to stay. They will start to creep into everything, everywhere, all the time. Either you recognize the moment at which it becomes a significant disadvantage not to use them (I agree that moment is not now), or get left behind.

I disagree and I think the moment is now. Gemini 2.5 and now 3.0 is incredible. People that don’t recognize that and use AI tools now are as silly as a craftsman that uses a hammer as a screwdriver when he has a screwdriver in his toolbox. A good craftsman uses the right tool for the job to save time and do a better job and knows the limitations of each tool.

I can spend hours learning photoshop and then trying out color schemes for my new intricately detailed historic house or removing a car from the driveway or I can use Nano Banana and be done in a prompt. There is dignity in learning all that minutiae but I don’t care, I’m not a Photoshop artist, I just want the result and to just move on with my life and get the house painted.

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

#463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering pirating the whole internet and boiling the planet is required to summarize a single page in a mediocre manner, it’s understandable that people who knows how the sausages are made are against it.

We need some regulation on them for sure. They should be paying for the content they train on and use in their search results. They’re still very compelling as a user.

> They’re still very compelling as a user.

Very not.

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

#464

I would pay $100 a year for a Firefox that just focused on privacy and was competitive speed and features (at rendering) with chrome.

Perhaps, but I would guess 99% of what few users they still have would not do this.

This leaves Mozilla in a tough spot of taking its main competitors' cash instead.

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

#465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI tools are here to stay. They will start to creep into everything, everywhere, all the time. Either you recognize the moment at which it becomes a significant disadvantage not to use them (I agree that moment is not now), or get left behind.

The metaverse is here to stay! Blockchain is the future! Without integrating metaverse and blockchain features into Firefox, Mozilla is at a significant disadvantage compared to other browsers. Don't get left behind!

They did actually jump on metaverse with Firefox reality and Mozilla hubs. Both weren't bad products at all. Both are now cancelled and they have done basically nothing for Mozilla's market position.

Edit: so I mean I agree here in case that wasn't clear

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

#466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The evidence is the billions of people who copy text to and from ChatGPT to other web pages.

But not just other web pages, other apps too. So again, why a browser. Why ask firefoxs pop out expansion panel instead of a right click context menu in word, or a chat interface in copilots phat app or a website chat interface or the precious space under a google search or any of the other 10000 places people are inserting this shit. And a copy paste task isnt necessarily going to be aided by a pop out sidebar runni…

Google has a separate browser for AI features? Gemini has just shown up in Chrome for me.

It’s of course a mess and a mad rush for market share right now. That’s just a product of a healthy, competitive market. I agree that I’d rather have one AI service I pay for that integrates with all my apps.

AI integration in apps is about being able to feed in the context from the app into the model, like the web page or document. It’s much nicer to just ask the model about what you’re looking at directly rather than having to copy in context. I don’t have market research on this, but I do believe customers will expect it.

Someday hopefully the OS will allow apps to expose context and actions for a systemwide AI assistant. This is what Apple is trying to do with their Apple Intelligence for instance. If this works well, that’d be great.

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

#468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the forks are the pressure release valves here. Would strongly consider switching to a fork myself. But still I'm just wrenched by the dissonance in what new-CEO-guy said. 5 years ago or so I reported a serious bug in pointer events. If you move the mouse less than 1px the browser 5-10% of the time Firefox reports to JS that the you moved the cursor ~400pixels up and to the right or left. Honestly this b…

> Then he says: "to get trust back, our top priority will be working on AI features." WHAT THE FUCK WHYYYYY!?!? I don't think adding a fucking shortcut to ChatGPT is "top priority" or even time consuming. Did you even look at what they're calling "AI Mode" in that link? They call it "AI Window". It's the same fucking thing as the window where you can opt in to using chatbots. That's nowhere near the same thing as pus…

See the document the new CEO linked to in his introductory blog post, which I will also link here: https://blog.mozilla.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/278/files/2025...

This is not a shortcut to ChatGPT. They're totally shifting directions, trying to pivot to being an AI company.

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

#470

I think people screaming "but AI is the future" doesn't recognize what the problem is. The problem is not AI. The problem is that Mozilla keeps jumping on fads instead of focusing on their browser core. There are a tons of "we bundled all the latest crap" Chrome forks out there. Nobody needs more those. Stop pushing bells and whistles. Give us more extensibility instead. Keep supporting v2 manifest and add more. Ther…

I am waiting for a serious fork of Mozilla to emerge at this point that pays the maintainers better in a bid to overtake Mozilla itself. People would donate to get a better browser, people dont donate because Mozilla wastes all their donor funds on nonsense.
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