Try Orbit by Mozilla: a new AI productivity tool

[sarath]

Hi folks,

We’ve got something exciting to share first with our community! Introducing our beta version of Orbit by Mozilla, now available as a Firefox add-on. This is a new AI tool to help summarize emails, docs, articles, and even video transcripts.

Designed to boost productivity, Orbit provides concise summaries right in your browser. Whether you’re wading through long emails, dense documents, or informative videos, Orbit helps you get to the heart of the content quickly.

Features include:

• Quick Summarization: Get summaries of what you’re reading or watching across sites like Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, and more.
• User-Friendly: It’s simple to use – just add it to your browser and you’re good to go.
• Interactive Q&A: Ask questions about page content and quickly find specific information.
• Customizable Summaries: Choose your preferred summary length and format.
• No AI Training: Unlike other services, Orbit’s AI does not train on your data, keeping your information private.

We invite you to check it out and download Orbit. We’d love to hear your feedback once you try out Orbit, and we’re open to all your ideas and thoughts.

[singhh9596]

Cool! Do you have an ETA for when it will be available on mobile browsers?

[sarath]

Thank ya!  No ETA just yet. We're focused on improving the desktop usability and stability at this time, but if we keep hearing more feedback for mobile support we can add that to the top of our queue.

[onequest]

Seriously this is really cool to see, thanks for sharing! I'm also waiting for the Android version of this cuz that's my main computer. ✌🏼

[yoasif]

AMO states that the license for the extension is "All Rights Reserved" - is the extension not open source?

[sarath]

In it's beta stage, Orbit is currently not open-source.

This doesn't mean it will remain this way forever. If orbit gains traction and we have the resources and funding to support an Open-Source project, I'm sure things could change. We are currently a small team of folks working on this part time and supporting an open-source project is not always a trivial amount of work.

Unrelated, but potentially interesting. When we chose Mistral's 7B model for the beta, that model was considered Open Source, but as of earlier this month it is no longer considered open-source as per the OSI definition.

[yoasif]

Was the extension acquired as part of another project or product? Otherwise, I'm not sure I understand why the team size would have bearing on whether the software is open source.

Is the extension (not the serverside components) under license to another vendor?

[Vinnl]

For more context to yoasif's remark, open source doesn't necessarily need to mean actively working with outside contributors, or making it easy to run by others. Openness is a spectrum, and it runs from a bare minimum of making the source code publicly available and with an open source licence attached - for example, the Mozilla Public Licence.

Assuming Orbit is also developed on GitHub, even just making the repository publicly readable, disabling issues and pull requests, and adding a LICENSE file with the contents of the MPL seems like a baseline that should at least be achievable, and potentially even less work than having to set up the infrastructure to enable limited access, particularly at an organisation like Mozilla.

(Consider this well-meaning advice, not a demand. Mozilla Monitor and Firefox Relay are open source, and it doesn't really cost us any effort, and occasionally has saved us some. They are not easy to run independently.)

[tuxayo]

The extension doesn't matter, the actual software running is not libre.
Even if the training algorithm would be libre. The training data isn't.
Even if the training data would be libre. It's impossible to train with reasonable hardware for most collectives of people. We basically invented a programming paradigm that is impossible to compile for almost anyone.
And it's quite hard to host with reasonable resources.

What happened to Principle 7 of The Mozilla Manifesto? https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/manifesto/

Most AI usage can't have the concrete benefits of libre software: massively lowering the dependence on a vendor. Whether it's about disagreement on choices or availability on the long term.

Also Principle 6. As of now, most AI usage can only end of in more centralization.

There can be compromises on these principles if having a very very strong reason. Like for translations, automated subtitles, text to speech, because it's accessibility and there are immense benefits there.

[DonutRush]

Mozilla should not be in the business of having Firefox drain a lake to misunderstand a webpage for me. You aren't making the web better.

[Anonymous]

It's a browser addon, just  disable or remove it if you dont want it

[lackey]

Mozilla requested input from everyone, not just people who agree with them.

[DonutRush]

Mozilla should not be wasting money and developer time on Lying Autocomplete. They are already stretched impossibly thin, this is them not using limited resources wisely.

You're right, I don't have to install any add-on. But this is Mozilla diverting resources that are better spent elsewhere to instead chase a silly fad that's contributing to the boiling of the planet.

[Eeeee]

I've tried Orbit a little bit, and there's a small problem: when I type Chinese, I usually type the pronunciation, and then select the Chinese character that corresponds to the pronunciation, and I have to press the Enter key to select the Chinese character I want, and then the conversation is sent before I can finish typing.
I hope that when I type Chinese, pressing Enter will not send the dialog immediately.

Also, when can we localize Orbit?

[sarath]

Thank you for the feedback! We're definitely keeping our eyes and ears open for suggestions for next languages we can support and thanks for clearly pointing out the issue we have with the "Enter" key. We'll definitely try to get that addressed for the next release.

[wutongtaiwan]

I want Chinese, add Chinese in this plugin as soon as possible

[sarath]

Thank you for your feedback. We're definitely keeping in mind the next languages we're hoping to support and Chinese is one that we'd love to add.

[Anonymous]

Very good decision to move the AI/Chatbot module into an addon! 

This gives me hope that the same can and will be done with other modules, like Pocket?

ref. https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/slim-down-firefox-remove-pocket-and-have-it-as-a-pre-installed/...

[sarath]

Thank you for the kind feedback! I've always been a fan of extensions for that reason. I will definitely share this feedback with the Pocket PM : )

[lackey]

I have several concerns about this tool, mostly centered around the ethics of AI and the way Mozilla is devoting so much time and money to features people do not appear to want. I hope the previous AI thread is addressed, as this comment   eloquently sums up my thoughts.

But for Orbit specifically: 

• Why is FakeSpot listed on the homepage for Orbit?
• Is the FakeSpot privacy policy, which allows Mozilla to sell private data to advertisers, in effect for Orbit?
• Now that Mozilla has created an extension, will they remove the much-criticized Labs AI feature from Firefox and relegate its functionality to a similar feature? 

[ffffff]

The Fakespot link is a little funny, isn't it? Maybe the same team is behind both projects, or something along those lines. I don't think there's anything shady happening as of now, having read Orbit's privacy policy. No idea whether that could change in the future.

I'm also interested in the third bullet point. I wonder if it would mean that much of a loss in functionality to have current Labs AI turned into an extension, even one made and endorsed by Mozilla. Surely there's been plenty of discussion on this, but I can't remember any details at this point.

[Anonymous]

I just checked out the options and it looks nice, but i am kind of missing the function to select custom LLM backends. (like locally hosted ones)

Am i right in assuming that this will be added in the future?

[sarath]

Great Question!

There are few different approaches being proposed within Mozilla around this very topic. I'm unfortunately not the best at answering the holistic view, but I can offer a bit of insight into our process at least.

With Orbit we decided to take  the approach of building an AI based tool that was focused on the simple online tasks that non-power users of AI might appreciate. (I don't think we'll be taking any users away from the Chat GPT's of the world.) However we wanted to provide this service while preserving the user's privacy.

However, we have a few potential paths to follow depending on the feedback we receive. Running a truly local LLM is one that we're researching at the moment. So far the feedback have not been loud enough for it, but we're keeping an ear out : )

[Juraj]

I'm a bit worried about performance, seeing the 189KB "content.js" being executed on each page I visit...

I would rather use it from the popup window, which is currently pretty empty. Or having it executed on the current page only after clicking the toolbar icon.

[Anonymous]

Distancing the UI of the Chatbot a bit more form the website content might also be a smart move. Either the popup or a seperate sidebar (on the right) might be a good place. That would fix possible performance issue also.

[sarath]

Appreciate the call out here. I'll be sharing this with the engineering and UX teams to consider.

[Yump]

How are tags applied to posts?  This is tagged "Say No To AI", which seems like a phrase associated with AI derangement syndrome, rather than what someone working on an AI tool would choose. I therefore assumed hostile tagging was possible and intended to apply "proprietary software", but I can't find it in the UI.

[Jon]

Thanks for the heads up - tags should only be applied by the OP as well as admin (for organization purposes and linking to existing bugzilla tickets).

[sarath]

@Jon I was wondering the same thing! As the admin/moderator could you provide some context around this?

[Octuris]

This is pretty neat! Is there a place where we can submit ideas or feedback?

[sarath]

We'd love some feedback. If you'd like to submit your feedback anonymously, we have a "Get in Touch" function in the Settings that will send it over to our product team.

Or if it's easier for you, you can submit feedback via orbit-feedback@mozilla.com

[Octuris]

Thanks! I sent an email with some ideas 🙂

[techfox]

No, thanks.

[flaqueman]

Please Mozilla! Stop wasting resources on AI fad only a handful of user want. There are plenty of tools available already, we don't need yet another power-hungry money-burning hallucinogenic "feature".

[Blisterexe]

How do you know only a handful of users want it? Have you run any studies?

[flaqueman]

No, indeed. I'm just guessing based on the amount of hate towards AI I'm witnessing everyday. But does Mozilla have numbers about how many people actually want this feature? I would love to see those numbers

[Blisterexe]

Quick question, does the ai model for this run locally?

[sarath]

For the current beta, it is not running locally.  However, it is an option our team is considering based on the feedback we're receiving.

[malogan]

I would have assumed after the firehose of negative feedback you have already received that Mozilla would have reversed course on this, but if you guys are really determined to dig your heels in on this then I'm moving to a different browser and cancelling my recurring donation to the mozilla foundation. I'm not giving money if it's going to be used chasing AI trends and I'm not using a browser that's actively implementing the kind of features I refuse to use chrome for having. You guys are fumbling the bag HARD right now.

[wutongtaiwan]

Hasn't Mozilla changed? Mozilla is going to add AI in the form of extensions, you don't have to download it, but someone really needs to use AI, you can't stop it, you can use AI, but you shouldn't stop AI