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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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13 comments
hardpenguin 3 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.
3 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.
1 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.
1 Likes
questioner9 1 hour ago
Quoting: grigiI would love to turn off "AI" features by default and then only turn the ones I need on manually.I believe this will be possible with what they are offering. You can set the global AI toggle to off which will make all current and future AI features turned off and then you can manually override per AI feature the ones you want on.
If you don’t want to use AI features at all, the Block AI enhancements toggle disables current and future AI features and suppresses prompts. You can always re-enable individual features if you want.Source: [https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/try-out-ai-controls-in-firefox-nightly/td-p/117177](https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/try-out-ai-controls-in-firefox-nightly/td-p/117177)
0 Likes
Quoting: Nic264What's dumb about translations and OCR?...Until you are the one shopping for a pair of DIMMs.
Blind hatred for anything labeled with “AI” is as pointless as hatred for anything that uses linked lists.
0 Likes
UltraViolet 43 minutes ago
Surely all they need is new tab / pop-up on a browser update to say: " would you like new AI features enabled?" (yes or no)
Enabled by default is tone def and why I moved to Vivaldi years ago
Enabled by default is tone def and why I moved to Vivaldi years ago
0 Likes
CyborgZeta 42 minutes ago
Quoting: hardpenguinHow about you disable them by default, Mozilla, and have people unleash AI at their own peril -_-They're providing the controls to turn it off, or turn it back on. What does it matter whether AI is already enabled by default?
This is dumb. So dumb.
I'm sorry, this just sounds a little silly to me. People, myself included, wanted the option to turn the AI features off. Alright, that's what they're doing. Now you insist it's off by default. Let's say they did that too, would you just turn around and say, "Well, there shouldn't be any AI to begin with!"
1 Likes
questioner9 35 minutes ago
Quoting: CyborgZetaAbsolutely, it's absurd to suppose they are going to develop new features and then make them all disabled by default for everyone.Quoting: hardpenguinHow about you disable them by default, Mozilla, and have people unleash AI at their own peril -_-They're providing the controls to turn it off, or turn it back on. What does it matter whether AI is already enabled by default?
This is dumb. So dumb.
I'm sorry, this just sounds a little silly to me. People, myself included, wanted the option to turn the AI features off. Alright, that's what they're doing. Now you insist it's off by default. Let's say they did that too, would you just turn around and say, "Well, there shouldn't be any AI to begin with!"
They are providing a feature for those who want to disable all current and future AI features to do so with one click. It ought to be welcomed. I'd be surprised if any other mainstream browser follows their lead on this. It shows they know AI is a divisive issue and want to accommodate all users.
0 Likes
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