06-21-2024 11:55 AM - last edited on 10-18-2024 02:19 PM by Jon
Hi folks,
In the next few days, we will start the Nightly experiment which provides easy access to AI services from the sidebar. This functionality is entirely optional, and it’s there to see if it’s a helpful addition to Firefox. It is not built into any core functionality and needs to be turned on by you to see it.
If you want to try the experiment, activate it via Nightly Settings > Firefox Labs (please see full instructions here).
We’d love to hear your feedback once you try out the feature, and we’re open to all your ideas and thoughts, whether it’s small tweaks to the current experience or big, creative suggestions that could boost your productivity and make accessing your favorite tools and services in Firefox even easier.
Thanks so much for helping us improve Firefox!
09-22-2024 03:56 AM
@asafkoбудь ласка, допоможіть з цим штормом, люди налякані 😳
09-22-2024 05:18 AM
Not falling into the AI cesspool is the main reason I still use Firefox. ***Please*** do not add this
09-22-2024 06:02 AM
No, please use resources for other (actual) browser improvements.
09-22-2024 06:35 AM
Not wanted
09-22-2024 06:52 AM
Nope! AI is incredibly harmful to the environment and after seeing the garbage that's been pumping into the internet via AI makes it way too hard to get excited about it. Have you seen the screenshots of nonsense google answers from AI? No thanks, I'm good on that. The reason I use, love and tell other people to use firefox is specifically because they don't operate like Google. Please don't do AI!
09-22-2024 08:21 AM
Nobody actually wants AI except corporations who don’t want their investments to go to waste. Those are my thoughts on it. Please keep Firefox an refuge from this **bleep**.
09-22-2024 09:17 AM
Please remove the feature. At this time, AI only serves to spread misinformation more quickly than humans can, or to plagiarize and steal to works of others. Perhaps one day [after many regulations] it can actually be used to help people, but for now its best to shelve it. Signed, a tired illustrator and librarian
09-22-2024 09:39 AM
if ai gets implemented into firefox i will uninstall it on every device and find an alternative within 1 day. do not screw over your users with this
09-22-2024 10:48 AM
Adding an AI button to Firefox is a poor choice. On the very surface, an AI button should not be a browser feature. That is within addon territory. Past that, I have no use for an AI chat bot. I haven't used one since I first tried on a year or so ago, and I haven't touched them since. I find the addition of AI products a blatant attempt to capitalize on the current trend of AI, and Firefox should not go in that direction. I do not want that software included in the browser I use, even if it can be turned off. This is a waste of time for the Firefox developers that could be put into creating more useful features that don't rely on other companies to work, such as security or optimization. The argument that it can just put turned off is a moot point, as the feature is still embedded in the browser, and thus is taking up space on my hard drive, and is still contributing to the disaster that is AI. The whole AI craze is similar to the machine learning craze, and before that, the so called "Big Data" craze. It is another piece of technology that is being shoehorned into products that never needed it, or actively make that product worse. Don't let Firefox be added to that list of products polluted by AI.
09-22-2024 11:28 AM
After enabling AI chatbot function, when I am selecting a sentence from the webpage, I notice a small pop-up, which contains 3 possible queries I can make about the sentence. Is it possible to customize my query?
09-22-2024 12:09 PM
Adding my voice to the chorus of No, do not do AI integration.
09-22-2024 12:12 PM
Reading through these comments, you'll notice a complete lack of real responses from employees. Mozilla does not care, this is ens***ification creeping into firefox. You know, good old late stage capitalism.
09-22-2024 02:22 PM
In the most polite way: **bleep**ING NO WAY, PLEASE DON'T.
Keep AI away from Firefox's code, please.
09-22-2024 04:56 PM
Just know that the main reason why many users chose Mozilla in the first place was due to the lack of AI. You'll lose a good chunk of your userbase by proceeding with these changes.
09-29-2024 01:46 PM
The fact that they're even considering this, coupled with the fact that they their employees are only replying to yes-men shows that they don't really care. I guess Firefox considers us less "users" and more "consumers" by now. At best they'll let you turn it off, after every single update.
09-22-2024 05:23 PM
Wow, so many people don't like this. But this functions is important for a AI-age app. You can take a look at monica plugin on Google Chrome. Maybe it can be changed to an official add-on on Firefox store if many people consider performance problem.
09-22-2024 07:41 PM
I really enjoy the current version of Firefox and would NOT want an AI feature added
09-23-2024 01:15 AM
unbelievable people that dont want AI in the browser in a such enormous growing AI century. Just dont use it if you are against it, thats all. Also you can turn the feature off or not even turn it on. Come on use your brains like turning on/off a feature like "check spelling". it is not even a privacy issue.
09-23-2024 02:57 AM
IMO, AI is great, just insufficient in value to offset how bad their respective parent companies' reputations are about their handling of user data. So I must preface this post by saying that AI integration is, maybe, not the best choice for Firefox *as a product*, at least from my perspective as a one of its' users.
An approach that would be more aligned to the principles of the browser would be to just add an API endpoint for AI-related "merde" and accept payment from whoever wants to be the default choice of provider for that, like you folks did with search engines. This way, whichever company cares enough about this can just pay to be the default one and we- who would never even consider using their services in the first place- can just move on with our lives; Granted, of course, that this default wouldn't be "default on" (which, given the operating costs of AI, shouldn't even be on the table in the foreseeable future).
So I suggest phrasing and dealing with this less like "AI Integration" and more along the lines of "A new AI API, where you can plug in AI-related stuff".
This would have the benefit that one can simply plug in a private AI solution on that "AI slot". Although this is currently a very niche use case due to its' price, those solutions will eventually become commercially viable for a wider audience (As of right now, they are exorbitantly expensive, with around 80Gb+ of VRAM requirements just for the cheapest ones).
By following this suggestion and making something one would call "an AI API", not "an AI integration", not only would we stand to have a much more mature "AI API" if and when the core Firefox user-base would ever begin to consider really using it, but we would also decrease the public association of Mozilla with these info-grabby AI companies as a whole, which it shouldn't want to have many of in the first place, given its user-base (That is, assuming we are mostly made up by people concerned with privacy and online safety). AI is kind of a charged keyword right now, for better or worse. And it will likely continue being so for the whole decade to come.
Another thing is that AI is very expensive to run as of right now, with most of that cost being paid by the environment through the centralization of AI-related workloads. This is almost guaranteed not to be the case in the future. Once the absolutely superior customization, privacy and other advantages of privately run LLMs finally outweigh their upfront cost, only big companies will be left using AI "services". Since, let's be honest, those services are just intrinsically expensive to everyone involved, one way or another.
Wrapping up:
My vote goes on the yes basket. AI is currently a "merde", yes, but it may not be so forever. I think having an API for it already maturing even before AI has any value or use for most Firefox users is a W in my book.
You just need to remember to make a proper "AI API", not just a hook into the current commercially available services that provide it.
I believe AI is gonna get much better than it is now, at least in the short term. Even though AI *services* will just continue to decay in value until they fade into the history books. So, if you want, go for it. I'm cheering for you folks at Mozilla, as always.
P.S If you are concerned about the amount of "would"s and "could"s in this post, I guess that's just telling of the amount of optimism required to believe "AI integration" in Firefox would have a happy ending, whichever way we choose to call it 😛 But personally, I'm still on board with it and cheering for you folks. Good luck ahead, whatever you may choose.
- A newly authenticated member of the user-base, just for this post.
Tl;dr: YES
09-23-2024 04:12 AM
Please don't do this. AI uses a ton of water and energy to work. It's not healthy for the environment. AI is unethical.
I really like using Firefox and I don't want it to go the way of Google Chrome.
09-23-2024 05:23 AM
I am not interested in a browser with ai. Having it in search results is bad enough and something that I have to work around. If AI was added to Firefox I would be upset and if it was not able to be turned off, I would find a new browser
09-23-2024 06:48 AM
Cool idea. Could be done with some improvement as the only options are not very useful imo, but I see potential. Don't understand all hate against new technology, it is is a optional free feature. Perhaps the haters should go back to using bare html
09-23-2024 07:36 AM
I cannot overemphasize how much no one wants AI services and AI assistants and suchlike on... anything. Not on browsers, not websites, not on apps, not anywhere. I'll be very disappointed if this goes through.
09-23-2024 11:49 AM
No AI in anything ever, TY. I hate it.
09-23-2024 08:24 PM
I am extremely against this. AI is prone to error, built off stolen material, and catastrophic for the environment. Please do not add AI to Firefox.
09-24-2024 01:33 AM
Please, no. 'AI' is not a useful feature - it merely generates things with no verification as to whether it is accurate. It also uses horrific amounts of energy and water at a time when climate change means these things need to be conserved.
09-24-2024 07:23 AM
Please don't. I moved to Firefox because Google sucked, and now you're taking steps towards making Firefox more like Google.
09-24-2024 07:31 AM
Booo!
09-24-2024 11:55 AM
Every single thing I've used that has integrated ai has turned to absolute **bleep**, spredding misinformation, scams, and general bad results, please do not put this into firefox too.
It sucks that we can say no but someone else is rich and wants to steal from us and does it anyway.
It really **bleep**ing sucks that these dumbass machine learning machines are destroying the environment and water too and that all companies are going 'what if this gives us more money' and does it **bleep**ing anyway making it almost impossible to get away from.
09-24-2024 02:18 PM
Kudos on one point only: having an easy link to provide feedback. AI "features" are not useful and in fact are unwanted by the majority of Firefox users. Don't waste any more time, effort, or money on this feature.
09-24-2024 10:19 PM
Could you just f*cking not? I thought Firefox was the browser that didn't do stupid trendy bull**bleep**. Why not add NFTs too if you're going to do this?
09-25-2024 03:16 AM
Take a good, long look at what people say about Chrome. Especially lately.
That's what'll happen if you follow through with this. Yes, even with opt-out as default.
In Earnest: DO. NOT.
09-25-2024 07:58 AM
no thank you, i don't want any ai chatbot or any similair ai hype thing, i wouldn't use it and it would make lessen my enjoyment of firefox
09-25-2024 09:24 AM
As far as i can see, no one needs this. I just want a working browser, that is not chrome.
09-25-2024 01:23 PM
Trying to login to a chatbot doesn't work if I start with Proton VPN connected.
Only after disconnecting from the VPN would it allow me to log in.
Though, once I was logged in, it started working as a chatbot in my sidebar.
09-25-2024 07:51 PM
I only just recently switched to Firefox because other companies won't stop integrating AI nonsense into their programs.
I swear to God if you continue with this I'm going to start using a command-line browser as the last option there is. Opposing the spread of the disease that is AI is a moral imperative, and one that Mozilla of all companies should understand and agree with.
09-25-2024 09:23 PM
Absolutely not. This is irresponsible and hypocritical.
09-26-2024 06:08 AM
I would be nice, to have options for local providers (ollama and others), and make it by default opt-out
09-26-2024 07:00 AM
I would prefer Ai to not be implemented at all. Even if it is optional, even if it is opt in usage/ones choice to use, the effect of AI is proliferating and normalising it harms artists, writers, illustrators and creators and will alienate them from your browser. Especially considering how much AI has already harmed and replaced artists in their various forms, and depending on which AI services you include, they are often built on and fed by theft of materials they have no right to.
Another issue with AI is the rampant power and water usage that is required for a singular prompt or image to be generated, and even without all those other issues I will not support something which is draining resources which could and should be better used elsewhere. The environmental impact alone is unacceptable.
I love firefox for what it does but choosing this route will make me consider finding another browser (though that is hard in this day in age as most are... not great and firefox so far has been the best choice, but with this it will make me reconsider.)
09-26-2024 09:28 AM
No!