21-06-2024
11:55 AM
- last edited on
18-10-2024
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!
09-09-2024 12:31 AM
Not least of all because this "AI" rubbish (which is all just markov chain bots with a new lick of paint and more marketing spent on it, rather than anything actually APPROACHING Artificial Intelligence) is a scam and useless, I would also appreciate it NOT being in any products I use, ESPECIALLY not the only browser not just Chrome wearing a mask yet again, because a) it is humongously wasteful to the environment given the amount of heat it generates and energy it uses, b) it is humongously wasteful from a FINANCIAL perspective (which is something corporations might actually understand and take note of, since they clearly don't give a flying foxtrotuniformcharliekilo what their customers actually want or need) and c) it is invariably wrong because it has no concept or knowledge or EVEN IDEA of context, truth, or even validity, because again, it's not actually intelligent in any way shape or form. It's just automated madlibs.
Please, Firefox. Please don't fall victim to this nonsense. The world does not need the ONLY MODERN BROWSER that's actually any different to all the others (which by the way, again, are all just Google Chrome in a different mask. Yes even THAT browser you're about to mention. AND that one. AND THAT ONE.) going bankrupt and getting bought out by Google or anybody else and switching to Chrome as well because it wasted so much money on this absolute twaddle.
09-09-2024 12:33 AM
I don't want any AI in my browser. I specifically use Firefox because it is not bound to any major tech giant, destroying the world.
09-09-2024 12:35 AM
I'd rather not have it at all.
I can imagine that you're very disappointed with how this feature is being received after you put development effort into it.
As things stand, I've not heard a single positive voice on the new feature. It's very likely that that's due to me living in a certain bubble, but overall I see a huge pushback on anything related to AI from regular people. The only people pushing AI seem to be big corp leaders and startups that are out for insane world destroying VC money.
I'd prefer Mozilla to take a strong stance **against** AI, similar to [Procreate](https://procreate.com/ai).
09-09-2024 12:54 AM
Please don't spend effort in this kind of support in the core browser.
I could wonder why Firefox instead doesn't provide a functionality to create, edit and share spreadsheets natively inside the browser, or a built in database of cooking recipes...
Right, you see the pattern. These chat bots already can be supported by accessing web pages or via extensions.
Please don't spend effort in this kind of support in the core browser.
09-09-2024 12:58 AM
Literally switched to librewolf as soon as i heard about this. Drop the AI nonsense and build real features for privacy conscious people trying to escape the google-opoly.
How did mozilla lose their way this badly? 😞
09-09-2024 01:07 AM
Hey ! Please do not. 🙂
09-09-2024 01:10 AM
I really really really dont want this. Please do not contribute to the en**bleep**tification of the internet. Be the browser who does better!
09-09-2024 01:19 AM
Hell, no. Nobody asked for this. We don't want it. If people really want such BS let them have it via an Add-on. Don't integrate it into the main browser.
09-09-2024 01:19 AM - edited 09-09-2024 01:21 AM
generative ai is theft, full stop. i cannot support it, and in addition to all generative ai being blatant plagiarism, llms often spit out dangerous and incorrect information and they do it in such a way that they appear trustworthy if you aren't being highly critical, making them even more dangerous and reprehensible in my opinion. furthermore generative ai is destroying the environment at an alarming rate heretofore not seen by mankind. it MUST be stopped.
09-09-2024 01:23 AM
Hell no
09-09-2024 01:23 AM
How many people have you gotten actively telling you to stop. Spelling it out for you. So many attempts to politely explain have been patronisingly dismissed or completely ignored
Have you forgotten who your userbase are? You seem to think we're all stupid but even the ones without a technology background are here because they care about privacy. You're actively implementing a known privacy risk. And expect people to not have strong reactions to it?
Frankly, **bleep** every single person at Mozilla who thought this was a good idea and that they could get away with it. This company can crash and burn with all the others investing in this **bleep** for all i care. if you continue down this path i will find a different browser that actually respects privacy.
Shame on you.
09-09-2024 01:26 AM
I won't be accessing this feature due to ethical concerns*, however I will be contributing to it, involuntarily. This is not a simple "don't engage if you don't like it", it is already harming the community I am part of and the planet I am living on - whether I engage with it or not. Quality information is already getting harder to access due to the proliferation of AI generated content, this does not help.
09-09-2024 01:28 AM
I will not try out the feature. I want Firefox to stay a decent browser free from any AI "features". You can do so much better.
09-09-2024 01:31 AM
From a browser I want:
* pages to load, ideally quickly
* security and safety options
* some light personalization: bookmarks, theming, extensions to forward/block/... IPs
I don't need, want, or accept unnecessary garbage that slows down or negatively affects my experience just because it's one of your yearly company goals. Keep this stuff, no thanks.
09-09-2024 01:34 AM
I don't mind you wasting your developers' time on chasing the latest fad or bubble to seem hip and cool but please put it behind a compile time flag so that distro maintainers can keep such functionality completely removed if they desire.
09-09-2024 01:37 AM
Don't want any "AI" stuff in Firefox.
09-09-2024 01:40 AM
I am fully opposed to any of this invasive AI garbage. We're boiling the oceans to generate endless streams of bull**bleep**. It's sad to see Mozilla go down this route. What reason do I even have now to continue using Firefox? Nothing differentiates you from the scum if you do this.
Ad measurement? AI chat crap? Mozilla insists on constantly kicking own goals... starting to think your C level are all plants by Google or Microsoft to remove all incentives for using Firefox instead of Chrome or Edge. 😞
Please abandon this course of action.
09-09-2024 01:47 AM
I really do not want this integrated into Firefox. Given both Brave and Opera already have AI assistants integrated in their browsers, Mozilla has a chance here to be the one notable browser to reject this. It isn't necessary, we can access ChatGPT and other services already in the browser if we so desire.
09-09-2024 01:51 AM
this goes against everything you claim to stand for on your site or "manifest". reckless, unneeded and embarrassing.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/07/ai-climate-change-energy-disinformation-report
"Further, Dodge adds that those with expertise in AI, particularly people in power at tech companies, should establish ethical principles to limit the technology’s use. The goal should be to avoid climate harm and instead help reduce it. “It needs to be part of the value system,” he says." (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ais-climate-impact-goes-beyond-its-emissions/)
09-09-2024 01:55 AM
Absolutely not. No. We do not want this. The well of Generative AI has been so thoroughly poisoned by mass privacy violations, mass stealing of content, widespread use of it to scam and deceive, and rapid acceleration of climate destruction due to how resource intensive it is, that any positive effect it may have (which, by the way, is next to nil) is vastly outweighed.
And you can tell us over and over that 'its all optional, its all private' as much as you like, but we know how this story goes; how long until its mandatory and can't be switched off or opted out of? How long until the temptation of mass profit leads to our data being sold off either for AI models or for yet more advertising, or both? Because it's not a matter of "if", it's a matter of "when".
That is where you stand with this as a company now; integrating any generative AI features at all, however optional, would betray our trust in the brand- trust you've worked hard to build up. A not insignificant number of people will drop your browser if you do this.
So with all that said, I say again;
NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. WE DON'T WANT IT. CANCEL ANY PLANS TO INTEGRATE GENERATIVE AI FEATURES IMMEDIATELY AND NEVER, EVER CONSIDER USING THEM AGAIN.
09-09-2024 02:02 AM
I think that if someone wants to have easy access to AI services while they are browsing the web, they should be able to use a Chromium browser for that. Firefox is for people who want a basic browser compatible with the vast majority of sites. If they need more functionality, that is to come from extensions.
The simple fact is the Firefox is the last widely compatible browser that is not based on Chromium. The ONLY alternative. Adding AI (read: LLMs) to the experience is like adding Crypto or NFTs to the browser. The community has absolutely no trust in it. It has essentially become a dogwhistle that whatever is integrating AI does not care about their users/customers/community.
That this has become an option has shaken the communities' trust in Firefox, and ultimately Mozilla as a whole. Please remove this "feature" as it violates several tenants of the Mozilla Manifesto.
09-09-2024 02:06 AM
No. Firefox is a web browser; it does not need plagarism as a service.
09-09-2024 02:11 AM
For the love of all things holy do not implement a built in plagiarism machine. I already am planning to, regardless of my tech illiteracy, switch to Linux because of how Windows has embraced this garbage. I don't want to also have to find a whole new browser just so I can post online in a way that's doesn't feel like I'm supporting something that's both ripping off writers AND prone to giving people false information (some of which can be actively harmful).
Like history will not look kindly on you if you do follow this trend for the same reason it wouldn't have if you implemented crypto **bleep** a couple years back when that was the scummy techbro scam du jour. Use your noggin this is bad for the well being of those using this browser and even the internet itself.
09-09-2024 02:12 AM
What an absolute waste of time over some pointless FOMO hype. I expected Mozilla to be the adults in the room; I appear to have been mistaken.
How about just making Firefox faster and snappier to use; that was what got Chrome their market share originally - now they have a foothold their bloated mess is still the standard, sadly, because nothing is actually noticeably faster to use. Please just make a really good browser and not waste time and funds on frivolous distractions. One would be far better off marketing a product as NOT having AI these days. There have been numerous articles on the subject.
Anyway, DenJohn said it best: NO
09-09-2024 02:25 AM
**bleep** this **bleep**. I don't need Mozilla to become another peddler for that garbage, I need Mozilla to provide a browser. No ads, no garbage AI.
09-09-2024 02:25 AM
I don't need it.
I don't like it.
09-09-2024 02:32 AM
No. Absolutely not. I want a browser that is a BROWSER. Not a ChatGPT client. Not a Google Gemini client. A web browser. I switched from Chrome to Firefox to get away from Google's constant AI push. Don't repeat the mistakes here.
09-09-2024 02:54 AM
EXACTLY
09-09-2024 02:52 AM
Stop it
09-09-2024 02:56 AM
made an account just to say this: Absolutely NOT, keep AI far away from Mozilla
09-09-2024 03:04 AM
The first comment, from June 24 this year, is "NO", and I second that.
Why can't you go back to be the good, non-creepy, non-exploitative, non-adware, non-spying option again? Oh yeah, you're Google now. I forget. It doesn't matter if it's local, the original learning data came from somewhere – it was stolen, and the training still used up resources we could not actually afford to spend. There is no ethical way to implement this so called "AI" at this point in time and the fact that you try to gloss over that is despicable. I'm utterly disappointed.
09-09-2024 03:06 AM
How about, instead of focussing on running after the latest nonsensical hype, you actually improve Firefox by keeping it bare and simple by default, but powerful and extendible by plugins?
A simple interface with tabs and bookmarks for a fast uncluttered barebone experience, then extensions for Sync / AI / other fancy 3rd party stuff that has nothing to do with the core browser experience?
In the meantime, I'll finally take a look at the privacy/user-focused Firefox forks while you bloat this one up.
09-09-2024 03:07 AM
The worst idea you had since raising your CEO's salary.
Please **remove completely** this feature.
09-09-2024 03:08 AM
This should not be included in the browser, at all. If you want to offer it as a "feature," it should be an optional extension.
I know Mozilla has been taken over by AI maximalists, but please remember that Firefox is supposed to be a web browser - not a means of getting more customers for the AI companies that are burning up the world's resources to deliver hallucinations-as-a-service.
Do better, Mozilla.
09-09-2024 03:11 AM
I think you'll find that very few people except a few deluded AI cheerleaders actually want this. Do not add this.
09-09-2024 03:24 AM
Totally NO
09-09-2024 03:27 AM
Do not do this. It is a selling point to NOT have this AI garbage forced down our throat by Firefox.
09-09-2024 03:28 AM
I'm not short of opportunites to interact with "AI". Even my mouse driver has jumped on the bandwagon.
With OS integrations coming too, there are few places where I'll be able to avoid it.
Much better that FF focuses on being a good browser, and limiting tracking and other privacy invasions.
09-09-2024 03:28 AM
One of the main reasons I use FIrefox is to be able to completely avoid the waste of resources that is AI. As some people already mentioned, this is antithetical to the Mozilla Manifesto and it should be removed from the browser.
09-09-2024 03:29 AM
I think what you're doing is amazing and I look forward to what is going to be possible with your integration