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Firefox dev clarifies that AI features will be 'opt-in' and there will be a 'killswitch' to disable them (fedia.io)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[–] 58 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Is the killswitch in settings? Because I had to set browser.ml.enable to false in about:config since there was nothing related to it in settings

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  • [–] 35 points 10 months ago

    Yeah, that’d be like the web browser equivalent of going into the Windows registry editor and changing a value in there. Like, it’s there, but unless you already know what you’re looking for, it’s not really an option.

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    • [–] 46 points 10 months ago*

    Yeah. I'm still pissed off dev hours get wasted on this shit instead of, idk, HDR support? Surround sound audio?

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    [–] 21 points 10 months ago

    "You won this round. But we'll try again tomorrow!"

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    [–] 20 points 10 months ago* (4 children)

    then make it an extension.

    the fact that they're entertaining ai at all is antithesis to mozilla's mission of an open and environmentally friendly web free from profit.

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  • [–] -4 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Hmm no

    Our mission is to ensure the Internet is a global public resource, open and accessible to all. An Internet that truly puts people first, where individuals can shape their own experience and are empowered, safe and independent.

    Thats the first paragraph from their mission statement here https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mission/

    Doesn't say anything about environmentally friendly. Also I think this part "where individuals can shape their own experience and are empowered, safe and independent.", and their stance on AI in their browser and it being opt in make sense. Some people want to use it. Let them have a safe and private way to use it. Maybe Mozilla can show how a privacy respecting AI experience can be. Wouldn't that still be a net good?

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    • [–] 18 points 10 months ago

    Thank god we have a photo of the firefox logo instead of an article

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    [–] 14 points 10 months ago

    Get a new CEO and get back to us

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    [–] 12 points 10 months ago* (1 child)

    Firefox has actually become less stable for me, which is crazy because it was stable for several years.

    It had gotten bloated and unstable when Chrome first came out, too.

    Why does Mozilla always trend toward mediocrity?

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    The enshitification of Firefox may slow at times, but it's been consistently getting worse since Firefox 2.0 over 2 decades ago.

    I wonder if it's google telling Mozilla what to do, to keep getting their money.

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    • [–] 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    The best killswitch is called Librewolf. Another good one is Waferfox.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Anyone know why LibreWolf isn't in the default Debian repositories? I trust Debian - I'm not going to add a repository to get LibreWolf.

    Until it's available from a default Debian repo, I'll keep going thru my list of all the garbage I have to go switch off in Settings and about:config every time I install Firefox for someone.

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    • [–] 11 points 10 months ago

    Opt-in you say? How about RMB click with AI chatbot that you can disable by clicking "Disable AI bot" there? Wasn't opt-in first. And, how is that in aboug:config .ml. list contains tons of entries set to True, rather than False? How in the fuck is it opt-in? It has been opt-out and in order to opt-out most of it, you would need an intermediate/advanced user. There was no toggle switch on a sidebar for normies to see and click. I call BS on this statement.

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    [+] 95 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (7 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [+] 45 points 10 months ago* (4 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 18 points 10 months ago* (2 children)

    Something easily turned off is distinctly not opt in. They're still lying to everyone.

    Earlier today I found a fucking AI feature automatically turned on... Those idiots need to get their shit straight and fast if they want to remain relevant.

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  • [–] 29 points 10 months ago

    try not to be determined that we're going to do the wrong thing here.

    There's a lot Mozilla has done right, but there's a lot they haven't done right as well. These days, the cynical view has proven itself to be more reliable in general, so it's hard not to apply it here as well.

    That being said, FF has supported AI chatbots for a while and I haven't seen it come up once in my browser beyond when they said "this is a thing now". But this has also been a good opportunity to explore alternatives, so I'm trying out Zen now (ff-based still).

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago

    Maybe but I although critical of some recent firefox actions think its possible given the og statement it is a clarification from a somewhat vague statement that was taken in the worst possible way by some and posted again and again often by people not even reading beyond the headline.

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    • [–] 27 points 10 months ago (13 children)

    They say a switch will be built in. There is no switch yet. Which means the deluge of little popups about AI tab grouping and the "look at Perplexity" messages are not going away until these changes are actually released.

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  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago (12 children)

    the killswitch is in about:config

    browser.ml.enable
browser.ml.chat.enabled
browser.ml.chat.menu
browser.ml.chat.page
browser.ml.chat.page.footerBadge
browser.ml.chat.page.menuBadge
browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled
browser.ml.pageAssist.enabled
browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled
browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled
extensions.ml.enabled
browser.search.visualSearch.featureGate
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  • [–] 24 points 10 months ago

    That's... Not really a switch. If somebody has to go to a secret place, get past a warning sign, and type in a half dozen secret commands... it sounds more like an espionage movie than the flipping of a switch.

    And people have already complained that some of those flags don't affect newer ones, which Mozilla keeps adding. We might as well say Microsoft has a setting to turn off telemetry, never mind it's also hidden and it also keeps getting switched back on.

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  • [–] 16 points 10 months ago* (6 children)

    the killswitch is in about:config

    Ah yes, the easiest place to put a kill switch for the average user, as opposed to the complexity of a toggle in settings.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (5 children)

    People on Lemmy will hate to hear this but the average user wants AI integrations.

    That's the main problem Firefox has. They are trying to appeal to a wide audience but their core users would never let them do anything that might do that. Then the core users sit there and wonder why Mozilla struggles and demand they work exclusively on the browser, an endeavor well known to not be profitable.

    The average user doesn't give a shit about privacy either as evidenced by the state of the current Internet.

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  • [–] 21 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    First, citation needed on these people who want AI. People on LinkedIn will hate to hear this, but I don't think the average user does.

    Second, I don't understand your point. Do you actually believe the average user would feel compelled to switch to Firefox? Why? Instead, Mozilla is taking aim at their current users.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    The average user uses llms like a search engine because search sucks rn

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago

    It sucks specifically because the megacorps want to make the AI look better than it is and because they want to keep people on search results pages...

    The shittyness is a feature to these vultures.

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    • [–] 14 points 10 months ago

    This is good enough for me. This means the Firefox code base will not get so integrated with AI features that forkers cannot remove them, and that was my primary concern.

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    [–] 7 points 10 months ago

    good.

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    [–] 7 points 10 months ago

    Link to the article as it doesn't show up on Lemmy: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/12/firefox-dev-clarifies-there-will-be-an-ai-kill-switch/

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    [–] 5 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    Lol, lmao. Still deleting firefox, get fucked. Mozilla betrayed its users trust by choosing to follow this slop trend, and they'll suffer the consequences.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago* (4 children)

    & you'll suffer the consequences of monopoly. Wait it out until LadyBird & Servo gets fully tested out

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (3 children)

    Why should I wait it out with a company that's betrayed the userbase's trust when it comes to not only privacy, but by also implementing a feature that everyone KNOWS is harmful to both the planet and society as a whole.

    I've already moved browsers to one that respects its users enough to not push something that's a quick cashgrab while it burns the planet and harvests our data.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    You should wait for a proper Alternative or make one yourself. Because Chrome is not that

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    • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    For now.

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    [–] 9 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    not sure this is enough for me. Its too late and too large a faux pas to recover from. In my opinion.

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    • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    They really should have come out with a local llm poduct seperate from firefox that is compatible with using it out of box.

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    [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Oh great, another item to waste my time checking when installing Firefox... Already takes near an hour to configure Firefox each time... Now have to watch out for the day they let the rest of that AI camel in the tent.

    *Installs LibreWolf, stays sane*

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    • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    5min ago some heresay said it would be easy to opt-out.

    Can't believe anything until it's out.

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    [–] 7 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    Yawn. People have been saying "Screw MozIlla, I'm switching browsers now!"

    Nothing new. Just disable the feature like you do with telemetry lol.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    I disabled telemetry by switching browsers tho

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    You cannot do that in chrome.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    I started using a firefox fork lol

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    switching browsers

    Firefox fork

    So still the same browser, just a different flavor. Chrome and Firefox are different browsers. IronFox and LibreWolf are still Firefox.

    I'm interested in Ladybird so we can have an independent browser with no ties to Google.

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    • [–] 6 points 10 months ago

    Too late, I switched

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    [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Too little too late

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    [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    That's a contradiction

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    [–] -1 points 10 months ago

    I guess we'll see what people here find to complain about now.

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