Tell HN: It's now impossible to disable all AI features in Firefox 145 (latest)

There is a long list of about:config settings that allow users disable most of the recently introduced AI chatbot features in Firefox but unfortunately not all:

AI Context Menu is still displayed if browser.ml.chat.enabled is set to false:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1994785

"Ask an AI Chatbot" context menu is not hidden, even if Machie Learning is disabled:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1995119

Mozilla has pretty much ignored this issue for an entire month.

36 points | by pera 9 hours ago

8 comments

  • LauraMedia 46 minutes ago
    Isn't it odd? All those tech CEOs tell us that we won't be able to live in a world without AI, how AI will be within every single app, service or codebase eventually...

    And then they constantly try to shove it into their products, with no way to disable it. I'm assuming the user data would show that quite a lot of people would turn it off, so to not ruin your own statistics for the next shareholder/investor meeting, you need to force them

  • moxvallix 36 minutes ago
    Isn't that context menu the one that is disabled from within the context menu itself? Or have they removed that option?
  • hallole 3 hours ago
    Surely they're blowing substantial cash on this, right? I'm not sure what sort of cost/benefit analysis is convincing every last tech company to fit the bill for a gimmicky AI add on.
  • roscas 8 hours ago
    On LibreWolf 145.0.1-2 those options are still available. I set all to false. But for these AI options and many others and also not only for Firefox/LibreWolf, you do need to block the connections. Don't rely on disabling options because most will not respect that. If Firefox goes this path and break LibreWolf, we need to switch to a decent browser and there are a few, still blocking connections for Google and Mozilla, etc. If you're not able to block connections with a firewall, at least install a Pi-Hole so you can block ads and custom domains like Google and Mozilla and Fakebook crap.
  • genezeta 9 hours ago
    Firefox 145 here, just updated to latest this morning.

    My about:config settings still disable the stuff. I get no AI Context Menu.

    [-]
    • pera 8 hours ago
      That's strange, which OS? I am on Arch and also on 145 and I get the "Ask an AI Chatbot" in the context menu. The settings used to work in the past so I am not sure what's going on.

      I believe these are all the settings I have disabled for AI:

      browser.ml.chat.enabled

      browser.ml.chat.menu

      browser.ml.chat.page

      browser.ml.chat.page.footerBadge

      browser.ml.chat.page.menuBadge

      browser.ml.chat.shortcuts

      browser.ml.chat.sidebar

      browser.ml.enable

      browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled

      browser.ml.pageAssist.enabled

      browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled

      browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnable

      browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled

      extensions.ml.enabled

      sidebar.notification.badge.aichat

      Am I missing anything?

      [-]
      • microflash 3 hours ago
        Seems whatever I had disabled earlier is still disabled on my install of FF 145.

        I do have these additional settings.

        browser.ml.chat.maxLength=0 browser.ml.chat.prompt.prefix="{}" browser.ml.chat.prompts.0="{}" browser.ml.chat.prompts.1="{}" browser.ml.chat.prompts.3="{}" browser.ml.chat.prompts.4="{}" browser.ml.chat.shortcuts.custom=false browser.ml.linkPreview.longPress=false browser.ml.modelHubRootUrl="example.com"

      • genezeta 1 hour ago
        As far as I can see, that's it. Or at least I'm not seeing anything else related that I've disabled.
      • genezeta 7 hours ago
        I had to go out. When I'm back home in a few hours, I'll try to look up all I've disabled.
  • RandomBacon 5 hours ago
    Does any software have a survey for what users want? Instead of immediately pushing AI, they should have pushed a survey where AI was one of the choices/questions.
    [-]
    • blibble 3 hours ago
      if they do that there's a risk of getting an answer they don't want
    • mmphosis 3 hours ago
      It is either a fork or new software based on what a people really want or need. This is not an easy hill to climb.

      Unfortunately, "configuration" is the survey. I detest both configuration and surveys. Modify the open source code and rip out the Artificial Inference code because Firefox is open source, or build software from scratch: servo, ladybird, your own web browser based on a survey.

  • cebert 8 hours ago
    Thanks for reminding me to disable this in about:settings. Mozilla is doing everything it can to push me away from Firefox.