AI Chatbot, at your service

[Jolie]

Tired of constantly switching tabs and copy-pasting content to your favorite AI provider? Us too. That’s why, after an initial soft launch, we’re gradually rolling out the AI Chatbot access to everyone. You can find it in Settings > Firefox Labs or right from the sidebar. To begin chatting, you will have to select a provider (e.g. ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.), follow the necessary login instructions, and agree to the selected provider’s terms to start using the chatbot. Firefox does not store your conversation with the 3rd party chatbot (just like if you were using a chatbot on another tab).

Alternatively, if you prefer not to see the entry point, simply deselect the AI Chatbot option in Firefox Labs. For more information, please check out the Support article. Our goal is to bring a range of easy-to-use AI chatbots to users who want to try them. We are also exploring ways for users to bring their own large language models to have an on-device chatbot.

What I love most about having the chatbot in Firefox is the side-by-side interface that cuts down on constant tab switching—it’s all right there when and where I need it in one easy view.

Here are a few of my personal “productivity recipes”:

• Summarize long email threads: I selected the text from a long email thread and asked the chatbot to summarize it for a concise overview. I was able to read it faster and “do more with less” on limited screen space.
• Polish messages: When writing, I usually start with free flow, focusing on ideas without worrying about grammar, structure, or length. Then, I use my chatbot to refine and polish the draft, making it concise, well-structured, and tailored to a specific tone like professional or friendly. This saves time, ensures high-quality results, and allows for seamless back-and-forth editing side-by-side.  
• Brainstorm new ideas: While planning my first RV trip, I chatted with my chatbot to get quick tips, suggestions, itineraries, and make modifications - all while I was browsing web pages about RV parks. I love that I can chat without switching tabs or windows, helping me stay focused and maintain context without distractions.

Question to you: If you are an AI chatbot user, what are the recipes and use cases that supercharge your day? What are some concerns to watch out for? I’d love to hear all about your creative hacks, tweaks, and feedback. While we cannot tackle everything overnight, your constructive feedback is what helps us continue to make Firefox the best browser and your preferred window to the internet.

Happy browsing,

@Jolie & @Mardak, Firefox AI team

[drÖne]

I don't want AI in my browser. I hate AI. Ai is the worst thing Mozilla could bring to us: shame on you!

[tom25519]

In fact, here're some AI which could run totally locally such as Ollama, Firefox could add it for those who don't want to sent their data to third-party.

Also, as https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/ai-chatbot-at-your-service/m-p/87718/highlight/true#M3359... said, it could also be a extension, and add an instruction in Firefox so that user could know about it.

[Brinhffy]

I don’t use or recommend Firefox because it has more features than Chrome, I use Firefox because it does fewer things than Chrome. Adding chatbot integration as a default is a negative for me.

[Francesco17]

Why?

[Windows_Vista]

Are you stupid!

[no_ai_thank_you]

Because:

- genAI uses stolen data from many sources without acknowledging them. It basically steals the work of writers, artists, musicians, journalists etc.

- It's also requiring a lot of energy for processing and storage, really not the direction we want the world to go to given that we are in an ecological crisis, with climate change on the way, and we should implement solutions to reduce global energy usage, not increase it!

- It's sending the data that you input to the genAI software 'somewhere' under unclear privacy conditions and is probably using that data to feed back into the genAI, so anything that you send it might be shown in some form or other to any other user.

- Lastly, it's basically useless as it doesn't "know" how to make the difference between truthful and accurate information, and garbage. If you already know what you're talking about, you can of course check the AI output, but why use AI in the first place? If you don't know what you're talking about, the AI might feed you something that looks fine from the outside but is wrong in some way that you won't detect.

In summary: it's bad for privacy, bad for the environment, bad for jobs, and probably bad for your brain, and I am really disappointed that Mozilla of all companies fell into that trap.

[tiktalik]

I've been using Firefox for 15 years. You make multi-account containers an extension, and consider this something reasonable to add to the main browser?

I'm switching away from Firefox unless this is removed.

[haingdc]

I'm using chat gpt. Current when I re-open Chat bot sidebar, it loads at initial page and lost the last chat session. It will much better for user experience to stay at the place that they have left

[milothepsychic]

Cool, well it is great that after 10 or so years I have to find a new web browser because I want one that has nothing to do with any **bleep**ing AI anything.

[airportlounges]

it is getting difficult for Mozilla to stay relevant in the ai rat race. Open ai and Microsoft is investing to much money.

[IlIllIlllllIllI]

I remember back in the day when Chrome was called the "Botnet browser," now Firefox built in a friggin botnet. The CEO is such a ViiiIIiiIIsIiiiiioooonaaaaaaryyyyyyy. The only problem his visions are of green and gold.

[AhmedX]

Issue I noticed is that when asking it a question it doesn't scroll down automatically as the answer is being fed. This saves the user from having to scroll, especially for long answers. Maybe have an about:config option for that?

Also, I'm the minority: I like AI because it is helping me save time (for the most part), and do things I wouldn't otherwise be able to do. Having it in the browser is a great assist due to the information overload nowadays.
I don't notice any performance issues. I agree though it should be off by-default or prompted after the upgrade.

[Windows_Vista]

Your just stupid af I wish I could down vote this post!

[DocMothra]

Disappointing. How is firefox supposed to disrupt the browser monopoly if it just jumps on the AI bandwagon, anonymizing their platform with the same bad technology that chromium is infested with? I'm frankly very irritated, as one of the major characteristics I select my software for is to avoid this mind-melting AI crap. If I needed my browser to read things for me, I'd buy a novel or an audiobook.

[Windows_Vista]

Is there a way for me to turn this stuff off cause alot of these AI Chat bots are Privacy invasive there should be a setting to turn off the AI.

In the latest stable build prior to it, you could choose the AI Model in Firefox Labs now when you choose an AI Chatbot you cannot change it to something else afterwards. That is a shame that needs to be placed in the settings. 

[ArnoldGreybeard]

Another thing to turn off, then to keep making sure it stays turned off, then to keep making sure that something in about:config is not turning it back on again. Or an update pushes it back to the forefront requiring it to be turned off again.

Rinse and repeat.

Librefox is slowly getting installed on my devices. In the vain hope that this might help even just a little to reduce my exposure to data slurping. There are a couple of use cases where I will still use Firefox but then I will only be using them for one website on one device. Behind a Pi-hole with uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger. Without using Firefox Sync.

[miss-sagemoon]

I'm not happy about this new AI feature, Generative AI has always been a privacy nightmare and are often trained off of material acquired without the creator's approval. If Mozilla wants to keep pursuing Generative AI like this, I'll happily swap my browser over to one that doesn't support wasteful Generative AI.

[miukelimaukeli]

This is disgusting behaviour from Mozilla. A company that proudly claims to protect its users' privacy installing data stealing, hallucinating word calculators is a gross breach of trust and has made me seriously reconsider changing browsers. Using real money for an entire AI department to work on adding this slop to your product is pathetic.

[Sage]

So few people actually want this, and I'd be willing to bet "Jolie" doesn't care either. In fact, by the replies to this worthless venture, I think most people actively despise it as a feature thrust upon them.

I began using Firefox to avoid these dangerous, grubby decisions. My belief in Mozilla has rapidly began eroding. I may as well just go back to the more feature-complete Google Chrome at this point.

[vooki]

It's amazing how Firefox advertises itself with its "safety" and "privacy" and you're now forcing the "steal all your data constantly" software on all of your users. I've been using it for years to not have a Chromium browser that steals all my data constantly but now I guess I need to find something that isn't owned by Mozilla, too.

Companies need to stop forcing this crap on us. "Just turn it off!" they shout. How about don't force it to be installed in the first place? Maybe I don't want AI scrapping bullcrap on my computer AT ALL. Maybe that's why I don't accept my "free upgrade to Windows 11".

I don't want AI on my system. I don't want it on my browser. I don't care if its "a fun and helpful tool." Get this **bleep** out of my face.

Stop forcing this down our throats. Do better.

[0xf738d2c2]

I think most of the people replying to this are being silly. There are all kinds of features in Firefox that you don't use, you're just emotional about this feature because you've ingested a steady diet of dogma, misinformation, and fake activism. I would prefer if Mozilla focuses on local AI and makes that the default user experience, but I understand they're trying to go where people are. I think open models will win for the same reason open software does.

For any fellow anti-capitalists in their feelings as they read my message, ask yourselves what it means that people are able to answer most questions for themselves with software on their own computer instead of sending information to search engines. What about protein folding or fusion? Have you asked any disabled people who use AI what they think? Don't misplace your hate for capitalism, you're shortchanging yourselves and everyone who bends to the toxic stigma you perpetuate. These tools are astonishingly powerful, you just don't realize it because your only experience of them is through the asinine social media posts you write for each other.

Anyway, thanks, Mozilla. Between the local AI integration and vertical tabs, you're getting some good punches in lately.

[no_ai_thank_you]

I've been using Firefox for more than 10 years, specifically for its privacy and reduced ecological footprint. "GenAI" programs go against these two principles. I cannot believe that Firefox force-fed this to its users instead of 1) not falling into the genAI trap at all or at least 2) having an optional AI ad-on, not installed by default, if some users really want it.

This shows a complete lack of understanding of Firefox's user base values and a generally problematic view with respect to what is good for people and for the planet. I'm going to uninstall Firefox and move on to Vivaldi instead, which at least for now is not falling into this wasteful trend.