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PayPalUpdate 19/12/25 10:02 UTC - A rep from Mozilla got in touch with GamingOnLinux to note the new CEO, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo, did actually speak about this on Reddit directly themselves a couple of days ago as well. Here's what they said:
Hello, Anthony here. I appreciate the input and the feedback. Please keep it coming.
To be successful Firefox should serve almost everyone. Browsers are a unique product, it's a product that has to work for just about everyone on the planet. Developers, Linux users, students, parents, and people who never change a default setting. Their needs differ. Sometimes they conflict. My job is not to ignore one group to serve another. It is to make Firefox work for everyone without losing its core values.
Rest assured, Firefox will always remain a browser built around user control. That includes AI. You will have a clear way to turn AI features off. A real kill switch is coming in Q1 of 2026. Choice matters and demonstrating our commitment to choice is how we build and maintain trust.
Original article below:
The saga continues! A Firefox developer has taken to social media to note there will be some sort of "kill switch" to completely remove AI features in the wake of the news about more AI features coming along with the new CEO.
Speaking on Bluesky and Mastodon across multiple posts that I'll quote below to save you clicking around they said:
Something that hasn't been made clear: Firefox will have an option to completely disable all AI features. We've been calling it the AI kill switch internally. I'm sure it'll ship with a less murderous name, but that's how seriously and absolutely we're taking this.
All AI features will also be opt-in. I think there are some grey areas in what 'opt-in' means to different people (e.g. is a new toolbar button opt-in?), but the kill switch will absolutely remove all that stuff, and never show it in future. That's unambiguous.
I'm not asking for faith in our direction - the thing I love about the Firefox community is how open, honest, and technical it is.
But I do ask that you don't have the opposite of faith. Like, try not to be determined that we're going to do the wrong thing here.
I hope we can (re)gain your trust here. I don't personally work on this stuff, but I'll try hard to answer any questions you have. And other than that, I'll get back in my lane, and stick to web platform stuff. - Jake (@jakearchibald.com)
Personally, it all still makes me very uneasy. The list of problems with generative AI is endless. I'm happy they are committed to a simple switch to turn it all off, but the fact that they're still pouring resources into AI is a problem. A browser simply doesn't need to have a ton of AI features bloating it. To me this feels like Mozilla are just doing what every other company seems to be doing - chasing a ridiculous bubble for marketing and buzzwords.
What do you think to this? Let us know in the comments.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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You can also find comments for this article on social media: The build in translation capability. I had to download all kinds of sketchy extensions to get that to work right for my uncle and now I can just flip a setting.
Quoting: LoudTechieI don't think more chatbots and such will make Firefox better, but there is one recent AI feature of Firefox that although I don't use it I think is very good.As far as I'm aware, and I am no expert so I could easily be wrong, but translation is generally Machine Learning (ML), rather than Large Language Model (LLM), which the chatbots and generative AI are built on. It does fall under the "AI" umbrella, but doesn't have the same issues as LLMs such as rampant plagiarism, enormous energy use, black box processing that cannot be audited, generating misinformation, etc. So therefore not really a big issue despite both being under the same umbrella.
The build in translation capability. I had to download all kinds of sketchy extensions to get that to work right for my uncle and now I can just flip a setting.
Quoting: _wojtekIMHO the issue with Firefox "adopting AI" is way overblown. Yes, AI is not great (especially if it's done with speculative bubble and cash burning by big-tech) and it's questionable ethics wise but… sometimes it's usefull and people do use it…Librewolf
Also what's the alternative? Crappy reskins of chromium? :/
Zen Browser
Waterfox
there you go, three alternatives that have no ai integrations whatsoever.
Quoting: NezchanMachine learning is the base category. LLM is a subcategory of machine learning.Quoting: LoudTechieI don't think more chatbots and such will make Firefox better, but there is one recent AI feature of Firefox that although I don't use it I think is very good.As far as I'm aware, and I am no expert so I could easily be wrong, but translation is generally Machine Learning (ML), rather than Large Language Model (LLM), which the chatbots and generative AI are built on. It does fall under the "AI" umbrella, but doesn't have the same issues as LLMs such as rampant plagiarism, enormous energy use, black box processing that cannot be audited, generating misinformation, etc. So therefore not really a big issue despite both being under the same umbrella.
The build in translation capability. I had to download all kinds of sketchy extensions to get that to work right for my uncle and now I can just flip a setting.
My understanding of the training methods of Mozilla are insufficient to classify it, it as a LLM, but it certainly is an LM(language model).
I would guess based on their github and budget that it's not(LLM requires self-reinforcement learning, which costs a lot).
Copyright wise all translation is the creation of derivative works although many nations tend to have personal use exceptions(in this case this matters, because I'm talking about the act of translating the webpage not the act of training the model).
Like all ML it's trained on data produced by people and thus at least subject to copyright.
Whether or not they've permission from the copyright holders to train their model with it I'm uncertain.
I would guess they've, because it's public which data they use and they've yet to be sued into oblivion.
[It's the most auditable model I've encountered in quite some time, but you still can't usefully attach a debugger to it](https://github.com/mozilla/translations)
It's translations certainly aren't perfect, does mistranslated information count as misinformation?
Last edited by LoudTechie on 19 Dec 2025 at 3:49 pm UTC
Caldathras 5 hours ago
Quoting: LoftyQuoting: doragasuToo late, today I switched to LibreWolf after literally DECADES of loyalty, and everything is working great, I'm not going back unless things change A LOT.btw read those settings above. They are currently enabled in Librewolf too.
Also about that killswitch, let me guess, it will be opt-out and will reset each time a update is installed, right?
@Lofty
This contradicts with @redneckdrow's observation (and @toru9999's too) in the other thread:
Quoting: redneckdrowQuoting: toru9999about:configJust checked, this is the default in Librewolf.
browser.ml.enable -> false
problem solved
I'm not able to confirm this setting at the moment. Have you looked into it?
I for one am not keen on having to install a chromium based browser so I'm feeling pretty generous towards Firefox doing what it has to do to survive.
And for all the Stallmanites on here, there are obscure FF forks for you, WHICH Firefox's continued existence and survival (which may require some corporate AI BS) depend on, I might add.
Quoting: CaldathrasMy version is the Flatpak, idk if that is any different from any other sources. Perhaps there was an update recently, i did check early yesterday.Quoting: LoftyQuoting: doragasuToo late, today I switched to LibreWolf after literally DECADES of loyalty, and everything is working great, I'm not going back unless things change A LOT.btw read those settings above. They are currently enabled in Librewolf too.
Also about that killswitch, let me guess, it will be opt-out and will reset each time a update is installed, right?
@Lofty
This contradicts with @redneckdrow's observation (and @toru9999's too) in the other thread:
Quoting: redneckdrowQuoting: toru9999about:configJust checked, this is the default in Librewolf.
browser.ml.enable -> false
problem solved
I'm not able to confirm this setting at the moment. Have you looked into it?
thx
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