I actually saw the “summarize this page” feature in the right-click menu today and clicked on it out of curiosity. The box that appeared had a “remove AI features” button which I accidentally clicked. Now the feature is completely gone and I don't know how to get it back. (Don't really care much, wasn't planning on using that feature anyway, just giving feedback on my first impression)
Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
241–250 of 554 posts
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#242I'll never understand why people feel so strongly about features like this and that they have to be opt-in. I don't use bookmarks. Should those be opt-in? What about the other 85% of the browser's features I don't use?
> I don't use bookmarks. Should those be opt-in?
You can choose not to use bookmarks, remove the bar reserved for it, and it’s taking up kilobytes in the background. Can’t say the same about shoving an LLM in a browser.
But sure, I’m much closer to the extreme of “make bookmarks a plug-in” than “make everything a default”.
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#243How about we don't enable AI features by default in the first place?
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#244> We've been calling it the AI kill switch internally. I'm sure it'll ship with a less murderous name, but that's how seriously and absolutely we're taking this. Honestly, is anybody reading what's getting written anymore? If it gets taken seriously it would ship with an enable-AI button, not the other way round.
I love threads about Mozilla. New CEO says he's not going to remove adblockers, people suspect him for planning to remove adblockers. Mozilla says they'll add a killswitch for all AI features (so that the tiny but vocal anti-AI minority will be happy), and people blame them for not having it as an enable-switch. Whatever they do, they simply cannot win. I'm personally starting to suspect the main issue with Mozilla i…
Trust takes a lifetime to build, and a moment to break. Those “moments” are becoming more of streams of time these days.
How many times does a scorpion need to sting the frog for the frog to be justified in being wary of “ I definitely won’t sting you this time!”
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#245I would pay $100 a year for a Firefox that just focused on privacy and was competitive speed and features (at rendering) with chrome.
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Do you ever need a website you're visiting translated? Yes. Firefox and Chrome already offer this. > Have you ever not understood a term or phrase on a website and had to go to wikipedia/urbandictionary/google to explain it? Yeah. And? > Have you ever wanted to do a 'fuzzy search' of a 300 page document (where you don't know the exact string of text to ctrl-f, but want to see where they talk about a particular topi…
>Yes. Firefox and Chrome already offer this. yes, both use machine learning methods to translate pages. You're already using AI and don't realize it.
Alternatively: they’re already taking advantage of the AI features they like without at all needing “AI in the browser” and do realise it.
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#247This is exactly the kind of boring, unsexy feature that actually builds trust. It’s the opposite of the usual “surprise, here’s an AI sidebar you didn’t ask for and can’t fully disable” pattern. If they want people to try this stuff, the path is pretty simple: ship a browser that treats AI like any other power feature. Off by default, clearly explained, reversible, and preferably shippable as an extension. You can al…
It is well-known as a result of the expert reports in US v Google that generally software users do not change defaults Whereas providing an option or a setting that the user must locate and change doesn't really mean much. Few users will ever see it let alone decide to change it For example, why pay 22 billion to be "the default" if users can just change the default setting
Mozilla is certainly paddling upstream. Of all of the AI-integrated apps and sites that I'm subjected to, I can think of exactly two where it wasn't obnoxious and a pain in the neck to disable.
Kagi. Zed. That's it, that's the list.
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#248I'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.…
I'd love to live in your world for a bit... I can't imagine any future where having AI in your browser is a net positive for any user. It sounds like an absolute dystopian privacy and security nightmare.
I don't know. What if the AI can remove all junk from the page, clean it up, and only leave the content - sort of like ublock origin on steroids?
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#249Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mozilla has a recurring problem with being unable to provide the simple, obvious right answer . When they re-wrote Firefox for Android, they were unable to give the simple, obvious answer to the effect of "yes, we understand extensions are a core feature of our browser and we plan to fully support extensions on Fenix and won't consider it done until we do". Instead, they talked about whitelisting a handful of extensi…
> Even when they're trying to do the right thing, they're strangely afraid to commit to doing the right thing when it comes to specifics. They won't say "never" even when it should be easy. Honestly, and it's hard for me to say this: I've come around. I still use and love Firefox, but emotionally I'm detaching from it, because fundamentally: all the other FOSS I use is an actual, factual, open source project. And Fir…
I can put up with a lot of friction and cruft as long as the foundations are solid amd I feel a product is moving in the right direction. I moved off chrome when it became crystal clear that Chrome was not even pretending to compete on User experience anymore, even in it is still the best browser in some regards.
I hate that I feel to be having déjà vu here. My needs are simple and I’m surrounded by software wanting to inflate itself more and more. And being hostile about it, to boot.
Re: Firefox will have an option to disable all AI features
#250Earlier quoted context omitted.
Firefox should be a browser, period. It should render pages. All other features should be extensions.
That would've been possible if they didn't kill XUL.
That's silly. It's still entirely possible as there are plenty of great extensions that don't require XUL and Firefox, which is still almost entirely XUL, can be hacked on locally to reduce surfaced features all the way down to a window with an addressbar and nothing else by examining that XUL and using userChrome.css to alter it.