TL;DR: Mozilla recently released AI controls for Firefox: a single control panel that lets people disable AI features in the browser or pick and choose which to leave on. On the surface, this sounds like a win for user choice in an era of AI-everything.
If we dig deeper, you can start to see that the kill switch isn’t the whole story. This feature acts like an accountability sink. By giving you an off-switch, Mozilla’s leadership shifts the ethical burden of AI onto the user - turning their design choices into your responsibility.
Oh for fucks sake, you don’t even have to turn it off, just don’t use the AI functions if you don’t want to. Like translate or Image Caption for the blind.
The AI functions don’t do shit unless you use them.
They don’t slow your browser down, and they don’t eat resources as is so often claimed.
Stop the fucking Mozilla hate.Well said. Everyone is crying about Mozilla dipping their toes in AI, while at the same time, ignoring Windows telemetry, Google’s push for manifest v3 with chrome and so much more.
It’s so stupid
Some of us don’t run Windows. I have blogged about Manifest v3, FWIW.
while at the same time, ignoring Windows telemetry,
You’re posting this statement on Lemmy? There is a dispropotionatly high population of Linux and OSX users here. Most of those here ignoring Windows telemetry aren’t running Windows.
It’s understandable. Those other examples are completely expected. For a FOSS project people have higher expectations and feel betrayed by Mozilla’s moves with this.
Yes and no, this is not about others being worse, it’s about being a total non issue in Firefox.
First is that if you don’t use them, the Firefox AI features do NOTHING. And on top of that you can disable them completely.
Mozilla only has finite time, money, and resources, so the impact of these features is a detriment to even the people who don’t use them. Those resources could have been better budgeted.
For example, “image caption for the blind” sounds great, but do you know how worthless it actually is? For starters, you can’t use it on any webpage…
Any LLM features should’ve been opt-in by default if Mozilla actually gave a shit, asking the user if they wanted that useless bullshit before installing. As this technology isn’t polished and can introduce vulnerabilities due to it’s inherently insecure nature. A kill switch is useful if a user decided that LLMs weren’t it and wanted to disable everything wholesale at the click of a button; only after they originally consented to LLM features being enabled.
Mozilla are only adding this feature because users made their LLM by default installation look pretty grim, I was one of those many dissenting voices about that. They wanted to jump on the LLM hype and cash in on some techbro attention, not considering that some of their user base would outright reject the idea.
Bro, just turn it off if you don’t want it.
Or use Tor Browser or Mullvad Browser if you don’t wanna deal with it.
LLM features should be opt-in by default, full stop. Just turning it off without being given a choice to refuse is very scummy behavior on the part of Mozilla. What if they wanted to use the default Firefox? Shouldn’t a user be allowed to opt-in and have LLM features off by default on every fresh install?
It’s nice having options that respect your freedom of choice and don’t force their deluded ideas upon you…I feel that mainline Firefox, made by Mozilla should do that as well! By not holding Mozilla to higher standards, you get another Microsoft Edge or Chrome situation all over again, this time in open source spaces.
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Like I said, then use a fork.
Tor and Mullvad made some excellent browsers.
Still not the point, if Mozilla wanted to implement LLM features, they needed to do it right! Opt-in is the ethical and user respecting way to handle it. We can all use Forks, but if you let a corporation get away with insane defaults…It will get worse.
Feel free to make the pull request, dawg
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How about we remove it from the browser, and if you want it you can install it as an addon.
Submit that pull request, my dude
Do you have the authority to authorize its approval, or are you just trying to shut people up with a thought-terminating cliché
You don’t need authority if its your own code, technically. Just commit and build.
If you’re wanting it as the default for everyone who uses that browser, Lemmy is not the place to request it. Hit up Mozilla, ask them to change it, or change it yourself and ask them to review your pull request. They authorize and approve from outside contributors quite often, so don’t sell yourself short.
But also, yes, i love the cliche because people just moan on lemmy about things instead of actively addressing the issue with the appropriate people on the appropriate mediums.
Airing your grievances out here is fun though. I get it. but asking the people upset about it to do some work is also fun.
Do you really believe Mozilla would accept a pull request to remove AI from their codebase?
No, but somebody has to try.
K cool thx
Why do you want people to stop discussing this? Are you running community management for Mozilla? If not, why is discussing it not “addressing the issue”? People are engaging in discourse.
Not once did I say I want people to stop discussing this.
What is the purpose of this message?
But also, yes, i love the cliche because people just moan on lemmy about things instead of actively addressing the issue with the appropriate people on the appropriate mediums.
Airing your grievances out here is fun though. I get it. but asking the people upset about it to do some work is also fun.
Awfully ironic to say this, now that “code is free”. What work are we talking about?
Uh, I’m not trying to be all Hail Corporate or anything, but they didn’t have to include the disable AI toggle. It sounds like if you turn it off, you never have to think about AI in Firefox…
Users needed to be able to choose if they wanted those LLM features from the very beginning, opt-in is the only sane way Mozilla could’ve handled this push towards LLM integration in Firefox. You are being “All Hail Corporate” by refusing to hold Mozilla accountable for their user hostile behavior. In this case, insane defaults and not respecting user choice is the bad behavior on the part of Mozilla. The only respectful choice would’ve been allowing the user to reject LLM features when first starting Firefox. A kill switch cannot be considered enough in this case and never should be!
Opt-in is not just the only respectful choice, it’s also the only logical or ethical one. Mozilla instead made the choice that makes the most financial sense, like every other company or nonprofit on the planet.
If you have other ideas to fund the project, see if Mozilla will listen to you. We don’t have to like it, but at this time Firefox is still the least-bad browser. But people who won’t accept anything good they do are actually unhinged…
- Keep taking money from Google
- Stop giving it to random AI companies with no strings attached
- Don’t get into a discrimination lawsuit by firing a man with a medical condition, who was leading the only profitable department
- Start taking donations for Firefox development
