Mozilla Launches AI Window for Firefox (mozilla.org)
- Reference: 0180065426
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/11/13/186229/mozilla-launches-ai-window-for-firefox
- Source link: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/ai-window/
The company [2]opened a waitlist for users who want to receive updates and be among the first to test the feature. Mozilla described the AI Window as an "intelligent and user-controlled space" that it is developing in the open through community feedback. Users who try the feature and decide against it can switch it off entirely.
[1] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/ai-window/
[2] http://www.firefox.com/ai
Stop calling it Firefox (Score:4, Insightful)
It's no longer the Firefox that I knew in 2004, it's just AI this and sponsored tab that. It's proof that open source can be enshittified.
Re:Stop calling it Firefox (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes. Build it for speed standards and security. Leave everything else to extensions.
Re: (Score:2)
It's all about FOMO. I can think of a couple of companies that failed to jump on the bandwagon of "new things" and are no longer around. Sears? Radio Shack?
I think Mozilla is just hedging their bets.
Re:Stop calling it Firefox (Score:4, Insightful)
> a new opt-in browsing mode
So don't opt in, it's that fucking simple.
As for me, no way am I going to activate this.
[1]Pale Moon [palemoon.org] probably won't bother either.
[1] https://www.palemoon.org/
Re: (Score:2)
I don't want anything in the browser that I have to worry about whether it's turned on and spying on me or not.
Anything like that should be an add-on so it can be not just disabled but removed (assuming it's shipped with the browser.)
My pet Firefox peeve is with mobile. It's shitty and getting shittier. Not only does it have a javascript-related memory leak they haven't bothered to fix for many years, but now it's hanging when trying to upload images. It works once or twice and then on the third try the bro
Re: (Score:2)
> "It's no longer the Firefox that I knew in 2004"
I would hope not. If it were, it would lack a hell of a lot of useful improvements, including new standards, performance, etc.
> ''it's just AI this and sponsored tab that. It's proof that open source can be enshittified."
Um, it is an optional browsing mode. You don't have to use it. You can probably even disable it so you don't see it. I am not a fan of all this AI stuff, and it doesn't bother me. Mozilla/Firefox isn't "going AI", it is just a mode
And yet (Score:4, Insightful)
Still no button to turn off all notifications of updates. Something so simple which Firefox used to have is now a distant memory.
And yes, I will bring this up in every Firefox article. No, I don't want to hear how I can make changes somewhere deep in the settings. They had it for 15+ years. Considering all the time and effort they're putting into this stuff, they can put it back.
Re: (Score:2)
Same for scrollbar width. Can't even fix that with a setting reliably, have to edit a file.
Re: (Score:1)
You can change the scrollbar width in Firefox by entering about:config in the address bar and changing widget.non-native-theme.scrollbar.style to 4.
Bad strategic move (Score:4, Insightful)
FF could be THE alternative browser, and vacuum up all the AI resistance.
AI making you dumber has made it to comedy punchline status, I've seen it several times now on late night tv.
Also seen, mainstream press articles showing up saying women are shunning men who use GPT to write their love letters.
Gee, I wonder why?
Anyways, it's common knowledge now that if you use AI ... pardon me to all the big AI users out there.... you're a big dummy.
So, missed opportunity there for Firefox.
How much more "AI" do we need in Firefox? (Score:2)
This seems rather redundant with the AI Sidebar feature they already have. I can interact with a chatbot whenever I want with their existing tool. I guess the difference here is the AI will be watching the browsing to assist you further? Funny how we went to fearing third-party cookies and cross-site scripting to asking a third-party to shoulder surf while we use the Internet.
Also curious what Mozilla as a company is going to focus on after this. Doesn't seem like there is much more AI they can distract the
Part why I am experimenting with Basilisk (Score:2)
I remember when Firefox was a 5MB download--now, even the downloader is larger than that. Other than lapses of privacy, I am experimenting with Basilisk because is supports Scrapbook, the best internet research tool ever made.
(sigh) Another "feature" to disable and not use. (Score:2)
> Mozilla Launches AI Window for Firefox
And... this would enhance my *browsing* experience how?
Instant uninstall (Score:2)
Anything that ships AI bundled with it won't ever make it onto my desktop. Do you think it would only be active if you used that dedicated AI tab? Of course not. It'd be running in the background at all times, analysis your harddrive under the pretext of being ready IF you needed all the information, but what it'll really be doing is selling even more of your personal data.
Re: (Score:2)
Anything that ships AI bundled with it won't ever make it onto my desktop."
This isn't "bundling AI", it is just offering an option to hook into your choice of AI engine, if you want to use it.
> "Do you think it would only be active if you used that dedicated AI tab? Of course not. It'd be running in the background at all times, analysis your harddrive under the pretext of being ready IF you needed all the information, but what it'll really be doing is selling even more of your personal data."
I seriously d
Nope (Score:2)
I wish they would stop complicating the codebase with GenerativeAI and leave that stuff to optional extensions. Especially if disabling it still leaves any part of the code running at all in the background, (or any disabled local models wasting my disk space). Keep the codebase lean and mean and focussed on four basic things: rendering webpages accurately, quickly, privately, and securely.
A waitlist? (Score:5, Funny)
Whoever signed up for that list should get perma banned from running Firefox.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
This desire to tell people "fuck you, I got mine" is incredibly damaging.
You and me are fine with current browsing. A lot of people would like AI assist. Let them have it. Freedom to choose what you want is good.
Re:A waitlist? (Score:5, Insightful)
> This desire to tell people "fuck you, I got mine" is incredibly damaging.
> You and me are fine with current browsing. A lot of people would like AI assist. Let them have it. Freedom to choose what you want is good.
We're fast approaching a point where AI and good can no longer be associated with one another. We're having it crammed down our throats from every direction, and there are a lot of us that aren't at all interested, yet get forced to use it at jobs, or because we haven't managed to escape a bit of software that has decided to push AI on us at all costs. When that happens with other things, forcing someone to do something against their will, we call it hostility. Why is it *NOT* considered hostility when it's AI being forced on us from the tech companies?
Re:A waitlist? (Score:5, Insightful)
> A lot of people would like AI assist.
*Citation needed.
Re: A waitlist? (Score:2)
Marketing say so! They would never lie.