Technology

where is this AI bloat exactly? I use Firefox every day and see no difference

Do you have to enable the feature first? Because I'm on v141 and I don't see this feature. Complaining about a useless and draining feature that you yourself enabled is a special kind of stupid tbh.

The pathological need to find something to use LLMs for is so bizzare.

It’s like the opposite of classic ML, relatively tiny special purpose models trained for something critical, out of desperation, because it just can’t be done well conventionally.

But this:

AI-enhanced tab groups. Powered by a local AI model, these groups identify related tabs and suggest names for them. There is even a "Suggest more tabs for group" button that users can click to get recommendations.

Take out the word AI.

Enhanced tab groups. Powered by a local algorithm, these groups identify related tabs and suggest names for them. There is even a "Suggest more tabs for group" button that users can click to get recommendations.

If this feature took, say, a gigabyte of RAM and a bunch of CPU, it would be laughed out. But somehow it ships because it has the word AI in it? That makes no sense.

I am a massive local LLM advocate. I like “generative” ML, within reason and ethics. But this is just stupid.

Mozilla is no longer about making a great browser. Mozilla is about making sure their Google bucks come in each year without fail. They don't work for consumers anymore -- they work for Google.

Throughout the years, the market share of Firefox has shank and shank and their C-Suite has continued giving themselves raises.

Mozilla Inc. has been very sick for a long time. It's a shame that one of the last pieces of honest competition for web browsers belongs to them, because I'm not sure how much longer they will be able to shamble on like this.

Literally no one on this green earth asked for this shit. In fact, we've been pretty direct about how much we don't want it.

It's exhausting.

Firefox really does seem to have lost the plot... they don't seem to go five minutes without slamming their dick in another drawer. It starts to look like they're in to it.

TBH despite I don't like this specific idea, nor use Firefox directly, I do like the usage of local inference vs sending your data to thirdparty to do AI.

They just needed to do it OPT IN, not OPT OUT.

According to the article, this is mainly for grouping tabs with a suggested name. Talk about backwards. Use AI to process the top websites on the Internet and create groups and/or logic to group them by keywords (cluster analysis), then save the small data structure in Firefox so it can group most websites instantly, using kilobytes of ram in the process; don't try to do this on everyone's device ffs.

Besides the heat and battery problem, this also means that the GUI is going to be non-deterministic, suggesting groups differently day-to-day based on the slight differences of input and the whims of the LLM. Burn it with fire.

browser.ml.chat.enabled   false

Firefox is a good example of "either you die a hero or live long enoigh to see yourself become the villian"

Now, several users have taken to the Firefox subreddit to complain about high CPU usage when using the feature, as well as express their disappointment in Mozilla for adding AI to the browser.

I don't think it even downloads the model if you never enable or use it.

I wish Mozilla would just debloat the browser, focus on performance and making browsing a good experience. But unfortunately their revenue situation is bad. At this stage, they won't even manage to survive through donations after annoying their main user base.

I just want a web browser that's not based in the USA.

Just make it an official extension ffs...

At least they offer a fix for it:

Head to about:config in a new tab, accept the risk warning, and use the search bar to find the controls.

To kill the AI chatbot feature, search for browser.ml.chat.enabled and set it to false.

To stop smart tab grouping, search for browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled and set it to false.

Awful Idea? Anal Intrusion? Actually Irrelevant?Activating Idiocy? Adding Incompetence?

Instead of capitalising on Google pissing off power users with its crusade against adblockers, why the hell is Mozilla fucking up so hard here? Seriously, which chain of command green lit all of this and didn't even think this would be remotely an issue?