Yes, Firefox is indeed coming up with a mechanism to turn off AI. A more or less “modern AI browser” is how the new boss has unfolded the future of the browser, and the internet, as expected, has not been very supportive. And now on top of this, a developer, Jake Archibald, is telling us that we will have a huge red button—figuratively speaking—on which we will be able to wipe out all the AI. The team seems to be taking this thing “very seriously.” Would that be good for them, or rather, I wonder? However, the storyline has been very unflattering for the company whose major selling point has always been the user privacy focus and who is now gradually trying to get on that AI hype train. To be specific, the gaming community is not quiet on the issue and their opinions are rather strong.
Let’s pause for a second. Firefox has been branded as Mozilla’s, and so the Internet’s, privacy-niche master, and, at the same time, its open-source competitor, Chrome, as its parallel. Users could hardly think of Firefox as their main beneficiary since the browser was faster and lighter for frequently opened guides, watching streams, or just not letting the RAM run out while playing any game. A new management proposal to turn Firefox into an AI-powered tool seemed… weird. Are we getting browser helpers that summarize articles for us, or are we facing the situation where the unwanted background data harvesting is happening disguised as “helpfulness”? The original plan was very vague, and that was the very thing that actually set off the bomb.
The people’s reactions were to say the least very intense. The replies to the announcement of the kill switch tell quite succinctly the whole story. It is a mixture of careful optimism, total disbelief, and quite a large number of users who just say that they have already left. One of the users, Moses, took it to mean that Firefox was “really listening and not just reacting.” He further said that AI was one thing but that a real opt-out was acknowledging the fact that not everyone wanted “smarter” tools at the expense of control. Great reasoning! But, right under that, Jason Miller came to us with irony: “Oh wow, Firefox listened and installed a kill switch? How nice of them. Nothing makes ‘user-first browser’ like first introducing AI everywhere and then letting people turn it off.” Oof. He is spot on regarding the resemblance of the order of operations to a reversal.
And this feeling—the feeling that the damage is done—comes out in all the discussions. Edward Origin just wrote, “Damage is still done.” Another guy named M J H was very straightforward: “Too late. Damage done, trust lost.” A very powerful atmosphere, indeed. If the majority of your audience consists of people who appreciate transparency and control, then, changing your company’s philosophy all of a sudden is, I guess, the fastest way to get them to permanently close the tab. Some replies have already started suggesting going for alternatives. David posted, “Just use Vivaldi instead. No such nonsense over there.” The Technomage made a comment, “So glad I traded FireSlop for Brave.” Ouch. “FireSlop is indeed a new term.
Now doubts regarding the kill switch are there. Will it really work? Will it really be forever? Renatakilol is of the opinion that it will be “accidentally” “re-enabled” during every Firefox update (which takes place 2-3 times a week usually). Another person, Akshay, shared a widely held fear: “Eventually they’re gonna use AI again and this will be done quietly. I hope they don’t but I know they will. Kill switch is just for a few days until backlash is gone.” That’s the trust issue in a nutshell. Once broken, every solution appears to be a temporary fix.
Nonetheless, it’s not all negative. There is a small group of people who consider it a step towards the right direction. Ian said, “This is the way to go. So what you want with AI, just give people a way to opt out.” A similar comment came from RinX: “every AI feature should come with a big red OFF button.” To be honest, that is a principle more companies should adopt. And finally, pablo5425 simply replied: “at least they are trying to keep everyone satisfied.” Trying is indeed the key word in this statement.
But here is what I found the most interesting, and maybe it is just the gamer brain talking: a lot of the criticisms were not even directed so much at AI as on Firefox neglecting the fundamentals. Ilya Colima grumbled, “It is still a problem that Firefox is again wasting their resources on the “wrong” stuff. Bring back the compact mode. Focus on your engine, etc.” That’s a very real issue of the users!
