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Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

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Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#251

Post by MallocVoidstar »

Spixel_ wrote: post #137
mrklol wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox mentions the following ones: "- Translations, which help you browse the web in your preferred language. - Alt text in PDFs, which add accessibility descriptions to images in PDF pages. - AI-enhanced tab grouping, which suggests related tabs and group names. - Link previews, which show key points before you open a link. - AI chatbot in the sidebar, which lets you use your chosen chatbot as you browse, includin…

They all seem like great features.

I started clicking a 'next page' link before I'd actually finished reading something (so I kept holding the mouse buttown down), and a couple of seconds later Firefox popped up a 'link preview' box informing me that I was clicking on a link to a web forum. Wow, thanks, couldn't have figured that out myself. (It did not actually summarize the next page in any way.)

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#252

Post by account42 »

altairprime wrote: post #34

Ironically, I bet that a significant majority of the users that turn on the AI kill switch — which must have some kind of phone-home telematics attached — will also be users who have disabled Firefox metrics collection and so will not have their opinion counted. So, the most effective path here for y’all to be heard is not flipping the switch off yourself (do so anyways!) — anyone who cares at this stage has probably…

They'll just push an update that prompts users to re-enable AI until their metrics have reached the relevant manager's targets.

Telemetry was never about user preferences but all about justifying what you were going to do anyway.

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#253

Post by setopt »

mfru wrote: post #243

Please let whoever steers Thunderbird development and road map also steer Firefox. Thunderbird is at the moment the pinnacle of user-centered, focused and down-to-earth development of open-source software.

That’s because Thunderbird is no longer part of Mozilla but an independent, community-developed project.

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#254

Post by account42 »

godelski wrote: post #101
themafia wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> will also be users who have disabled Firefox metrics collection and so will not have their opinion counted. Gee. If only there was a way to collect users opinions on things. Welp.. guess we have to live with subtly spying on everything they do with our software.

Most people aren't vocal. Most people who are vocal aren't representative of users. Many vocal people aren't even users. Don't get me wrong, I turn off telemetry, but you're acting like it's easy to get that information. You act like people don't scream when Firefox prompts people with surveys. You act like there isn't bias in survey takers. If you just pretend everything is easy we'll just end up reinventing the sam…

Mainly it's just developers not wanting to hear what people say.

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#255

Post by mort96 »

sunaookami wrote: post #220
mort96 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should Firefox build in a separate side bar for every popular website? Would you want a Facebook side bar and Facebook account integration? I wouldn't.

Funfact: Firefox already had a Facebook sidebar and integration back in 2012! https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/firefox-introduces-new-s... The Social API was later removed though because it was wildly unpopular (unrelated but man look at the good macOS and Firefox design in the screenshot...)

Haha, that's so typical Mozilla. Proves my point I suppose.

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#256

Post by account42 »

lpcvoid wrote: post #218
shultays wrote: post #217

Probably not enough for AI haters, we need separate executables with kill switch already triggered!

That would be better, yeah. Ideally some #ifdefs that I can configure to remove all the slop from the binary itself ;)

Really all this bloat should just be extensions instead of part of the base browser code base.

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#257

Post by UI_at_80x24 »

jeppester wrote: post #175
mort96 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what sort of user testing made them decide that what Firefox users really need is a chat bot in the site bar. Isn't a chat bot in a tab good enough? And calling translation "AI" seems like deceitful retroactive rebranding. Why is machine translation suddenly "AI" now ? It was never branded as such before. Is "AI" here just used to mean machine learning?

> I wonder what sort of user testing made them decide that what Firefox users really need is a chat bot in the site bar. Isn't a chat bot in a tab good enough? If it wasn't because I find myself using the AI-sidebar all the time I would probably have shared your opinion. I guess it's just quite convenient to have it separated from the "regular" tabs and their history.

Could you please describe your use-case? How do you use it? How do you make use of it?

I use Claude code, so I understand that paradigm; I don't grok this though. Is it any different then going to a web page i.e. gemini.google.com and typing your query there?

Could this side bar have been a "search bar" at the top? Now that I say it out lou, adding them to the 'search providers' isn't a bad idea.

Generally speaking I am against this being shoved at us, but I find it as a useful tool in a limited number of areas.

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#258

Post by fleebee »

ddxv wrote: post #102

Where are the AI features in Firefox? Looking around right now the only one I see is right click tab -> Summarize page (NEW). I googled a bit and see they have some grouping of tabs feature I've never used/seen (or want). The only other maybe AI feature I remember seeing is the odd left hand bar that is there on fresh installs and I usually remove to declutter. Are those the features this kill switch removes or was t…

I get some kind of AI summary when I do a long left click on a link. I'm sure I'm not the only one to accidentally trigger that one.

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#259

Post by account42 »

godelski wrote: post #84

Firefox does what some people want, people complain. Firefox does what other people want, people complain. Firefox does what both people want, people complain. I'm sorry, but we'll never get corporations to do what we want if we don't throw them the smallest bone when we get our way. You need positive reinforcement too, not just negative. If it's all negative they just stop caring and you get companies lot Google who…

If I smash your window every day but one day after being asked to stop again and again I decide to just leave poop on your front porch instead, should you not complain about the poop?

Malicious compliance is no compliance, it is still malicious.

Re: Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

#260

Post by account42 »

Orygin wrote: post #202
PunchyHamster wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what, we're just going to hand the keys of the kingdom to the guys selling artisian turd sandwiches because what, there isn't enough mayo on your ham sandwich? Because you don't like ham? Firefox is the artisan turd sandwich. They are burning dev time on features barely anyone asked, while bleeding market share for last decade

> They are burning dev time on features barely anyone asked Got a source for that? HackerNews is *not* representative of the average browser user.

The average browser user isn't using Firefox and won't be any time soon.
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