They may also be pushing AI features because there are people who actually do want to use them. "Nobody wants this" is a refrain most commonly spoken inside social bubbles.

As you say, nobody has to use these features if they don't want to. If they feel icky even knowing that there's a configuration option there then there are plenty of Firefox forks out there that don't even have that. It's so tiresome seeing these complaints being endlessly inserted into unrelated discussions like this.