Firefox Getting New Controls to Turn Off AI Features • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefox Getting New Controls to Turn Off AI Features

#111

Post by jonathansampson » Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

GCUMstlyHarmls wrote: post #35

heavyset_go wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brave comes with its own branded "Leo"[1] AI assistant built into the browser lol [1] https://brave.com/leo/

Every time brave gets walked out as some good alternative I cant get past the vc / crypto coin / brave-reward holding garbage. Maybe they're ok now but they had some really gross mistakes (?).

There's a lot of confusion around the "brave-reward holding garbage."

To be brief, Brave issued grants to users, which those same users could then direct to their favorite content creators. So, the grants _started with Brave_, and initially _remained with Brave_ until they were claimed by the designated content creator. If the content creator never claimed the grant, it could be recycled back into the pool, and re-issued to another Brave user in the future.

The _grossness_ of this "controversy" is in the fiction surrounding it, and not in the details itself. Some falsely claimed Brave solicited donations on behalf of content creators—that was never the case. _Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it._

Re: Firefox Getting New Controls to Turn Off AI Features

#112

Post by BrendanEich » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 4:01 AM UTC

GCUMstlyHarmls wrote: post #35

heavyset_go wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brave comes with its own branded "Leo"[1] AI assistant built into the browser lol [1] https://brave.com/leo/

Every time brave gets walked out as some good alternative I cant get past the vc / crypto coin / brave-reward holding garbage. Maybe they're ok now but they had some really gross mistakes (?).

Rewards has always been opt in, so you don't need to get past it to use Brave. We would not be here without it, but use Chrome or Firefox if you prefer. IMHO "really gross" applies to the Google spyware embedded in Chrome, and Firefox has had its share of "gross mistakes" since I left.

For those who don't want to free ride, we will offer Brave Origin soon. One time payment for stripped down Brave, no opt-in UX of any kind.

Re: Firefox Getting New Controls to Turn Off AI Features

#113

Post by eukara » Tue, Feb 17, 2026, 2:53 PM UTC

BrendanEich wrote: post #109

eukara wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> ... things like "Come home, white man" and other dog-whistles on image-boards Wow, that's a new lie. Do you have any evidence? This isn't something Brave ever did, but it's easy to make unfalsifiable "There's probably archives" b.s. claims on HN.

Thank you for signaling you had no idea this was happening. I wouldn't make such a thing up, if that's what you're asking. If you have no idea this happened that's one thing - but I am telling you the truth in saying that is what I saw.

You might also want to evaluate what kind of people are attracted by your image. Your actions have spoken far louder than any accusations I have made here. Hint.

> it's easy to make unfalsifiable "There's probably archives" b.s. claims on HN.

The grapevine literally called them (not my words) "brave shill threads". Companies have been scraping the text based web for decades. Of course there's archives. They may not necessarily be indexed by search engines.