Chiming in on the discussion around Mozilla's announcement of intent to broaden AI usage within Firefox:
It does not matter if users are given the option to disable the features; their inclusion is immoral in and of itself. AI's destructive effects on the environment, the economy, and the human brain are already well-documented, and it's saddening to see that Mozilla has evidently decided that these concerns are subordinate to their desire to chase a higher market share (a share which, across all datasets collected here, never cracks 7%).
In a recent thread, Building AI the Firefox way: Shaping what’s next together, a representative from Mozilla states that:
"Nonetheless, standing still while technology moves forward doesn’t benefit the web or the people who use it."
I understand the sentiment they're expressing here but would submit that in this case, it's not a question of "standing still", but instead "taking a stand". Whether foregoing AI features "benefit[s] the web or the people who use it" is a question worth asking, but escalating usage of a technology that pollutes communities, damages the job market, raises the price of consumer goods, plagiarizes art, damages cognitive ability, and preys on vulnerable people--sometimes at the cost of their lives--most certainly does not. These anti-human impacts are unavoidable, but they also aren't even the sole concern with the tech. AI is well-known to "hallucinate", providing users with unreliable information, which makes the aforementioned costs even more unconscionable. It's a technology that churns up the planet, society, and its users, and spits out a pile of slop.
So, Mozilla, I plead: keep AI out of Firefox. Don't just reverse course on expansion, but also strip out the existing AI "features". If the ethical argument isn't persuasive, I'll offer a market-based reality check: trying to stay competitive in an arms race with Google has clearly not borne results over the last 20 years. This is an chance to set yourselves apart. Do the right thing, and there's an opportunity to become the only game in town for users who are opposed to AI. Continue on this course, and you will lose at least one user... though I strongly doubt I'll be the only one.
