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PayPalSomething that might help calm the masses against generative AI, Mozilla announced that AI controls are coming to Firefox. For the people who don't want any AI extras in their browser, they'll get easy access to turn off all existing and future additions to Firefox.
As announced in a blog post the controls will arrive with the Firefox 148, which is due to arrive February 24th. The settings won't be spread out either, they'll be in a single central place making it quick and easy to do. No one size fits all approach though, you'll be able to individually toggle various AI features or just turn them all on / off.
The features that will get the toggles at launch will be:
- Translations, which help you browse the web in your preferred language.
- Alt text in PDFs, which add accessibility descriptions to images in PDF pages.
- AI-enhanced tab grouping, which suggests related tabs and group names.
- Link previews, which show key points before you open a link.
- AI chatbot in the sidebar, which lets you use your chosen chatbot as you browse, including options like Anthropic Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Le Chat Mistral.
Mozilla put out a video to showcase it:
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A needed step - good to see them deliver on their promise of options.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Dawe
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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7 comments
hardpenguin 2 hours ago
How about you disable them by default, Mozilla, and have people unleash AI at their own peril -_-
This is dumb. So dumb.
This is dumb. So dumb.
2 Likes
These are great additions. I like that it's easy to turn off them all, I also like that you can pick and chose. All except the chatbot (🤮) are on-device. Haters gonna hate but this is a good direction by Mozilla.
0 Likes
I wish this stuff was just made available through extensions so people who don't want them don't have to deal with them, and people who do want them can still use them (even if I personally wish that Mozilla weren't investing into AI at all). But at least they're making good on this. As much as I'm critical of Mozilla's direction, Firefox remains the best browser for my own personal needs and use case.
0 Likes
Install libreWolf, a privacy focused firefox fork, and leave all that bs behind.
0 Likes
Quoting: hardpenguinHow about you disable them by default, Mozilla, and have people unleash AI at their own peril -_-What's dumb about translations and OCR?
This is dumb. So dumb.
Blind hatred for anything labeled with “AI” is as pointless as hatred for anything that uses linked lists.
0 Likes
ML translations have been around for a long time, and works. It however is not an LLM. Due to marketing "AI" is confused with "LLM". Due to corporations pushing this unethically and trying to not give us a choice, people are very anti "AI", hence long-standing "AI" like vector-spaces are now painted with the same brush.
Don't attack the person for getting the minutiae wrong, especially when corporations spend money to confuse and misdirect.
Did Mozilla do the right thing here? Arguably, yes. Is it perfect? No.
I would love to turn off "AI" features by default and then only turn the ones I need on manually. Instead it's either "all OFF", or "ON by default".
Can I live with it? Yes.
Don't attack the person for getting the minutiae wrong, especially when corporations spend money to confuse and misdirect.
Did Mozilla do the right thing here? Arguably, yes. Is it perfect? No.
I would love to turn off "AI" features by default and then only turn the ones I need on manually. Instead it's either "all OFF", or "ON by default".
Can I live with it? Yes.
0 Likes
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