Share your feedback on the AI services experiment in Nightly

[asafko]

Hi folks, 

In the next few days, we will start the Nightly experiment which provides easy access to AI services from the sidebar. This functionality is entirely optional, and it’s there to see if it’s a helpful addition to Firefox. It is not built into any core functionality and needs to be turned on by you to see it. 

If you want to try the experiment, activate it via Nightly Settings > Firefox Labs (please see full instructions here). 

We’d love to hear your feedback once you try out the feature, and we’re open to all your ideas and thoughts, whether it’s small tweaks to the current experience or big, creative suggestions that could boost your productivity and make accessing your favorite tools and services in Firefox even easier.

Thanks so much for helping us improve Firefox!

[Red1]

Oh god please don't do this. We really don't need Firefox to be like the other browsers. Why do you think i'm using it? We don't need AI. It is an absolutely abysmal slope into privacy breeches and datacollection. No matter how much you say it won't, I will not believe you, I will not trust you.

[bro_jenny]

Please don't

[oDaniel]

I feel like the side menu could use some improvement at the moment. I’ve been hiding and reopening it using Ctrl+H and then switching to the AI, but even if there were a hotkey specifically for this, it might not be the most effective solution. A  button on the toolbar could work better.

Also, while it may not make that big of a difference, I really don't know, it would be nice if the side menu was in a special container that prevents it from accessing any information in your browser that you prefer to keep private. Maybe this is already the case, and I’m just not aware.

Considering all of the user feedback so far, it might be worth exploring alternative implementations. It could be an add-on. While it doesn’t bother me personally, I understand that it’s a concern for many others.

I genuinely hope this can be implemented in a way that satisfies users and helps avoid negative discussions on platforms like Twitter and Reddit.

[oDaniel]

I also see it as an "easy access to AI services from the sidebar," as you said. There's the "Show queries on text selection" feature, which displays a shortcut for queries when you select text. Since Firefox sends the text, page title, and queries to the chatbot, it may be a little too much for a lot of people. I know that Pocket is disabled in a lot of Firefox hardenings, so you know how people feel.

I use AI for some small things, and having it in a more handy way is really cool. As I said before, if you can make it more secure—maybe if the Multi-Account Containers add-on had a special type of container for this kind of stuff and the add-on was also implemented with this feature—it could be really nice.

Maybe you could make the "Show queries on text selection" feature more suitable for this private browser. A little bit. At the end of the day, you're just making it easier to access. People will go to the websites if they want; you're just making these people's lives more convenient.

Bing's Copilot could be useful, but I don't know if you can implement it.

It will really be what people would be mad about, but if you could easily send the page as a PDF to the AI, it could be useful. Like, you already have the "Ask me" shortcut there. So, if you could send an article easily to the AI to have a quick exam, it would be nice.

TTS AI can also be interesting. It's a more fluid voice. Again, it would be up to the user's choice to have this. Sell some privacy for convenience. As long as you don't force it, it can be really great.

I think that's it. Have a great day!

[Starfallcannon]

I would be in the market for a new browsers if ai is implemented into Firefox.

I want you to do well, but this is nonsense.

[Triggernometry]

I will not even entertain trying this "feature." The mere fact that you thought this was a good enough idea to include in a Nightly release, and didn't can it before it got to development, is already a massive breach in trust. Mozilla is supposed to be dedicated to safety and ethics, and LLMs are bastions of hallucinated information and data theft. I'm seriously considering finding a different browser just from reading this post, and I ABSOLUTELY will if you implement it, even if it's entirely opt-in. I do not trust that you would actually honor my opt-out status if you're morally bankrupt enough to include a built-in AI search or chatbot feature.

[sageostorms]

Please for the love of all good things left on this planet... DO NOT ADD AI TO FIREFOX!!!

I very specifically chose to switch to Firefox so this kind of thing wouldn't happen.

AI integration has been extremely badly received by the users of any platform it has been added to.

Where did your ML model get its training data? How can you confirm that everything your model has been trained on has been ethically aquired and is free of ingrained bias? Are you going to be collecting our user data to train your models further??

Please just take one look at Google's stupid Gemini project and at how badly their model functions to this day.

Adding AI to Firefox would be a massive mistake, please don't ruin your good image for some tech start-up's lie.

[Gozzy]

Happy to add my voice to the chorus of no's. Firefox is the refuge from the desperate and aggressive push to ruin the planet and our user experience with so-called AI. Please, just don't.

[colortraks]

do not do this. nobody wants this useless bloat

[PAA]

Please, don't. Ai is actually a tool that show so many flaws. I want to use a browser i can rely on, without a feature (even though I can choose to use it or not) that i fear. Please, don't be evil. 

PA Angelini

[kaitlynstuart]

NO

NO AI

And if AI integration goes live I will be yeeting Firefox into the recycle bin and finding an alternative. This thread has already offered a few!

Why did anyone think this was a good idea?

[Spamboy]

Hi! Yeah I don't want this! I don't know a single person who would want this! Hope this helps!

[MxRemy]

DON'T, why would you do this??

[spec]

Do NOT

[dontfckthisupfi]

Nah, plz dont do this. I'll refuse to use ur browser if u do

[kittykat]

If Firefox continues this way, I will be switching browser. I've done it before and I am not afraid to do it again.

[WesWedding]

The inclusion of an "AI" chatbot feature needs some justification here.  And some transparency.

There is a blatant push by the industry to include "AI" like this in everything, as it is the big new snakeoil everyone is trying to capitalize on.  There are also a great many controversies about the products out there, too, be they environmental or ethical, so this response was probably expected.

So... please justify this direction in development and resources.  Please provide some transparency.

What are the metrics that justify this feature?

There must be some demand to cater to such a controversial feature inclusion: so what are they?  What % of your users even want this?

 Perhaps (I suspect) the demand from coming from the top, yet another C-suite who has been sold some snake oil about genAI and FOMO?

Who are the stakeholders in this decision? 
Obviously Mardak is playing from the classic genAI advocacy playbook, utilizing such classics as conflating "AI," the marketing term for the specific products being included in this feature, with pre-existing machine learning features like autocomplete.  Who else is involved?  Who pulled the trigger on this?
This is being pushed by someone; you really ought to explain who (since I doubt you have metrics that support the first question).

[Hyourinmaru]

I hope that this AI bull**bleep** will be deactivated via about:config when it comes into the stable and is activated by default. It would be even better to be able to ban the corresponding module directly from Firefox.

Are you serious, Mozilla? Nobody wants this AI crap, but every company jumps on it like flies buzzing around **bleep**. Many users switch to Firefox precisely because they want to escape this AI crap that other browser manufacturers integrate. What is so great and special about AI? The only thing I notice is that even in 2024, AI won't even be able to properly add sound to videos or set proper subtitles. Not to mention pronunciation and emphasis...

If only Mozilla would listen to its community and user base once, just once...

[LarkSong]

Please don’t, especially not without explaining what manner of AI it is and why you think it is a worthwhile feature to add. “AI” is a buzzword being used by seemingly every company these days as an excuse for increased user privacy violations with no apparent benefit—in fact, in many cases it has proven to be actively detrimental to the functionality of the platform (yes, I’m talking about Google). 

[Drvonchicken]

Please don't add ai

[BrynnaCC]

For the love of all that is holy, please don't add AI features to anything. I'm SO TIRED.

[Ghostlykitty]

Do not. 

[ZaphodB]

No! Please don't add any "AI" features to Firefox.

People who want their browser to be hooked up to some big tech mumbo-jumbo bull**bleep** system will not use Firefox anyway. Isn't the whole point of Firefox to NOT do this kind of things?

[Goddessgirl]

I highly value firefox for its privacy and security measures as well as its mission of remaining an unobtrusive helpful browser and i think adding an AI functionality will only go against all of the best parts of firefox. Before this announcement i was an avid and outspoken supporter of firefox and will often recommend the people around me to switch to it as their primary browser but if youre going to integrate ai which is worse then a normal search engine, detrimental to the environment, and a safety/privacy biohazard i will be switching browsers once more. 
Please reconsider this decision.

[23_Vast_Eyes]

Please don't. I love Firefox, it's the only browser I will use, and I don't want that to change. These large language models are interesting as an experiment, but fail as a product for their inability to actually *understand* language,  and inability to separate actual information from hallucinations. Please don't do this.

[GhostInTheEl]

Please no.

[ShimmyD]

I use Firefox partially to get away from all the awful AI/Machine Learning garbage. I'm very unhappy that the team is trying to lean into it, even after all of the information about how harmful and unethical it is on so many levels. Any AI integration makes me want to start looking for alternative browsers.

This move is honestly disappointing to see from a team I had otherwise respected.

[MaryEmmaFG]

I think that an addition of AI services to Firefox would only reduce functionality, increase chances of privacy breach, and reduce the quality of service that the browser provides. I am very against it.

[bugbeverage]

NO! We do not need or want this. Some of the good things about firefox for a long time was the lack of AI and security it provides.

[KiwiKewl]

Absolutely no. I started USING firefox because it's better than Chrome and doesnt use AI. Im either going to have to find a new browser or follow advice to lock Firefox into an old version.

[SpiritWalker]

No AI

[idefine777]

Stop that.

[Beggarknight]

No. Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

[hrrraandm]

Please don't, i use firefox because it doesn't have the AI nonsense. I would heavily consider changing browsers if this is implemented

[Pavlovian]

I would rather chew glass.

[Lexington]

Please don't inplement AI features, I don't want to ise a browser with those.

[cdotdark]

Please do not ruin Firefox by adding useless AI!!!

[NikoReins]

Please don't.

[inanemom]

please god no. Do Not taint this good browser with ai.

[Anonymous]

please don't add any kind of AI to firefox, all of the '' 'helpful AI' '' that's floating around is just actively poisoning the internet, generating misinformation, or both.

I for sure won't be using it but the fact that it would be there to begin with makes my skin crawl.