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!

[jetmanjay]

Please do not add AI to tye platform, it is a fad that not only gives you wrong information that could kill someone, but is killing the planet

[mkarakov]

Absolutely not. I already struggle to get actually reliable service from browsers and search engines (required use of chrome in a workplace environment) so for the love of god KEEP the unmoderated and thieving AI out of my Firefox. Please let me have one device I don’t have to fight a straightforward function out of. Please. DO NOT INTEGRATE AI INTO FIREFOX PRODUCTS

[drdaeman]

It's what everyone does, and it's effectively a "we also got AI" gimmick with minimal value. A low hanging fruit, but this fruit is not tasty. I think it's why this discussion is full of all those "please, just don't" comments.

I would understand bringing back meaning to the term "User Agent" using new technologies. I would welcome an ability to command Firefox in a natural language and let the machine autonomously reach the desired outcome, figuring it out and doing all the routine stuff on its own with minimal supervision. E.g. checking every every listing on a marketplace that doesn't offer proper filters, reading descriptions and reviews, and adding products matching given criteria to a shopping list. An ability to command something like "Go to $store and find me three cheapest USB-C cables that are standards compliant and support DisplayPort Alt Mode. Open each other in a new tab for me to review." and have it done would be a welcome feature, especially for spammy stores with limited filter capabilities, like Amazon. Or, you know, "cancel that $website account, for real" and let machine fight through all the "if you really really really want to cancel" nuisances. Maybe even a persistent assistance mode with "for every spammy popup auto-dismiss it ASAP", although latency is probably not going to allow this without tiny highly specialized popup-detecting models.

I admit, giving a language model control over the browser is a questionable thing that some may dare while others may loathe. If implemented, it must be strictly opt-in and with everything fully disabled and thus safe by default. It could also eventually lead to potential abuse, like scummy websites hiding instructions to ignore all instructions and making a big "donation" - so if implemented it would make sense to go fully supervised at first, with safeguards and isolated sanity checks for eventual unsupervised mode. All this said, it could be probably best if any automation ("AI" or not) would be left completely external to Firefox, using something like WebDriver BiDi to interop with the browser. As long as Firefox provides all the necessary APIs for external programs to "see" and control, with reasonable and granular access safeguards, and good documentation, projects will follow.

Something like that has an theoretical ability to potentially disrupt the established status quo, empowering end-users to fight against dark patterns, en**bleep**tification and constant UI changes for the sake of UI changes through user-controled automation. At least it's probably won't be a complete waste of computing resources. A sidebar with ChatGPT (or Claude or whatever) won't help. It could save a few clicks, but is not a meaningful improvement.

Just my 2 cents.

[tobyfrra]

If ai is fully integrated into firefox I'll probably switch browsers.

[scribbly7]

generative AI is becoming an inescapable nuisance across the entire internet. it would be so, so, so fantastic if firefox wasn't yet another place that I have to try to avoid annoying AI features. it's a misinformation generator, why would you include it in the browser?

[alcholmes]

I think it's awful. AI has been forced into every program I use and as a long-time Firefox user I would be greatly disappointed if this were pushed into core functionality of the program. I've so far appreciated how Firefox hasn't done this, and hopeful it will be scrapped.

[Splodey_Goat]

Even if it's completely optional, it's a dangerous precedent to set to integrate any sort of AI into Firefox at all.  We've seen nothing but a degradation of services from every service that tries to integrate AI, and Firefox has been a bastion against that en**bleep**tification.  Even from a purely cynical pro-AI perspective, generative AI is at it's peak with no serious longterm plan or promise, it's a money pit being sold by venture capitalists to other venture capitalists hoping to cash in before the empty promise becomes so apparent they can't milk it for any extra futuristic-sounding ad blurbs.

[AtmaDarkwolf]

I really hope you guys start learning this. You have ignored previous feedback about other changes, and seem to totally be ignorant about what it is that brings people to firefox.

We support this browser because it IS NOT Chrome. it is NOT edge. It is not IE. We are using firefox cuz it is one of the only (not counting firefox forks which are really just earlier designs) alternatives to those.

Yet update after update, you go so hard into trying to make them look like the others,act like them, even so far as to hide away the settings and configs we need to make it act and look more like earlier. Then another update you specifically go about 'nuking' those very options which force us to find other ways.

How do we make it very clear to you that WE DO NOT WANT CHROME. WE DO NOT WANT EDGE. WE Want firefox. Why are you pushing people away by taking away the only real reason they come.

This AI discussion(which hopefully looks like you MAY FINALLY have listened, buttttt. given previous times, I am not 100% sure u have, and feel it will be slipped into it somewhere under the hood...) shows that you CAN Hear us,

SO when will you get it, we want firefox because it is firefox. We (Repeating here) DO NOT WANT CHROME, or EDGE, or IE.

Thanks for listening(maybe)...

[kabba]

Generative AI is built on the ongoing theft of creators’ art and writing without their knowledge, consent, or compensation. I am appalled that Firefox, a so-called ‘ethical’ browser, is considering amplifying AI and its harms, and becoming complicit in it.

[kabba]

Beyond the ethical angle, AI uses catastrophic amounts of water and energy - many times greater than a simple search. Amid an escalating environmental crisis, promoting and facilitating the usage of AI is doubly unethical.

And, as so many others have mentioned, the constant integration of AI tools into every. single. app with no off button or opt-out reeks of predatory business practice - trying to artificially inflate demand for a product no-one wants, before everyone realises it has extremely limited utility. And it’s annoying beyond belief! I love Firefox because it allows me to browse in peace, to curate my internet experience, and to avoid the predatory ads and click-mes that Chrome and other mainstream browsers have en**bleep**tified into. Why are you trying to ruin that??

[jku]

what possible benefit could this provide? Gen AI responses are inaccurate, unreliable, intrusive, and extremely wasteful of resources. adding an AI button would be to disregard the experience of a typical Firefox user in favour of some transient investor incentive.

[Rukmau]

I don't have the energy to elaborate too much right now (sorry), but I would prefer no AI tool additions to Firefox. I love this browser already, and I don't think AI tools will improve the experience considering what an all-around nightmare they are (ethically, environmentally, etc.). I avoid using anything that adds generative AI to it, because it has a tendency to make up information while being a general waste of energy; inclusion of this sort of feature endorses something which is rather antithetical to why people use Firefox (as many users are pointing out). Generative AI (LLMs) work by scraping massive amounts of data off the web that people did not consent to give, and is opposite the privacy many use Firefox for.

I hope I'm not too late to comment, but since the thread is still open, I feel it's worth my 2 cents.

[Shakibone]

Please do not implement these exploitative flavour of the month scams.

[Nykterosea]

Not interested. The reason I use Firefox to begin with is to control my own privacy and user experience. "AI services" appears to just mean "chatbots" rather than any of the specific tasks they may actually be potentially useful for, and they are resource-intensive, ethically-questionable, user-unfriendly, and perhaps most importantly, non-user-unfriendly by making the internet a less valuable resource whether I use them or not.

[kwildfon]

I'm not entirely comfortable with using AI services for multiple reasons, particularly because the amount of energy this technology takes to run... while it doesn't seem to provide much actual added utility or benefit users significantly at all.

[Dakkath]

How about we don't, instead? LLM 'ai' is nothing but a gigantic money sink, devastating the environment, and impossible to train without stealing data. It's a trillion-dollar solution that doesn't solve any actual problems, let alone trillion-dollar ones.

[SourceJD]

cut the AI crap. i use firefox because it doesn't have AI clients. if this were added, i wouldn't update firefox, or try finding another browser to use.

[belle]

Hard pass, the entire reason I'm on Firefox is because it doesn't do **bleep** like this.

[hadtoregister]

Yeah, this implies that something fundamental has changed. No service stays trustworthy forever, so if the other shoe is dropping... welp, it was a good run.

[TieflingKisser]

Absolutely NOT! The people who are drawn to using Firefox are largely the same people who are looking to get away from this stuff in other browsers. Generative "AI" is based on intellectual theft and data harvesting, exactly why I moved away from Chrome in the first place! I would hate to have to find another browser but I refuse to deal with that garbage.

[TieflingKisser]

Frankly, given how overwhelming the vitriol against AI has been for months, I find it very worrying that Firefox would even consider adding such a thing.

[En1t]

Respectfully, I don't think that it would be a good idea to add.  AI is notoriously inconsistant, especially when you look at such ai as Google's, which at this point only give out false information.  Please do NOT add an ai feature to Firefox.

[N-Grimley]

Oh, please don't. The lack of AI nonsense was part of the reason I loved Firefox. AI contributes so much to the spread of misinformation (AI cannot be trusted to not "hallucinate" information) and disenfranchisement of low level creative workers. It's not a good tool or asset for 99% of people and should not be considered or tried out as something built in to any browser. There's enough AI nonsense out there already without you jumping into this fetid pool of garbage too. Such a betrayal of the internet browsing experience I've come to expect from Firefox!

[fyespiex3]

Please keep AI features away from Firefox. Firefox is the last place where we're safe from this garbage. No Ai please, I beg you

[sapphyr_jay]

Please keep AI far away from Firefox! It’s annoying more than it is useful and one of Firefox’s strong points is that it is not bloated down with AI like its competitors. Please reconsider adding AI to Firefox it will alienate a lot of your loyal users!

[elseabass]

No. AI is environmentally disastrous, morally dubious, and, oftentimes, just plain wrong. Beyond useless. 

[afishwhodreams]

Absolutely not.

[Fenderblitz]

I use firefox specifically so i dont have ai (and also for better privacy features)  no one wants this.  Your market share is already low do bot alienate users just because bigwigs see the word ai and lose their mind.

[hadtoregister]

Please don't do this. This sounds like imminent monetization and selling data (because there's no trust on my part with AI); it definitely would be using unethically sourced data, and legitimizing/enabling further content theft on the part of the services that are scraping data to fuel this sort of thing. You're supposed to be against this sort of thing. That's why you're the browser I use. If that's changed, I can move on.

[EthanTrees]

Hell no. I don't want AI on Firefox, that's why I switched to it. Please keep it the only functional browser and abstain from pointless AI taskbars and "helpers" that I will never use and will invariably turn off. If you implement this long-term, I will start looking to switch to another browser.

[Mmundt]

Please please please no. Literally one of the reasons I started using Firefox was to get away from the AI. I'm an engineer and I know how useful AI can be, but it is not a useful feature in a search engine, and actively makes search engines more difficult to use. Even though this feature is optional, I fear that once it is implemented, it will end up being everywhere / not optional. Additionally, AI in search engines wasted So much water and energy and simply is not practical (esp when the only options are Always On or Always Off, rather than only using it for specific searches). Please do not do this!! Even though I won't use it, I will know that it is there!!! 

[bilbo27]

Just don't. No one wants AI integration. I think that's been shown enough now. Just sand us all the bother

[FullmoonDagger]

No thanks ! AI is not good nor needed ! Let's keep focusing on what makes this browser great: the privacy, customisation and ditch this trendy AI nonsense that pollutes the web we know and love

[nicknikola]

Absolutely not a fan of this. The lack of AI is mainly why I've loved Firefox so far. If AI got added I would look for another browser and not look back.

[Sunday-Saturn]

Please don’t do this

[enistello]

Please don't. "AI" is an environmental disaster. By using machine learning, users are burning natural resources for tiny gains in the form of minor convenience they could live without.

Adding this functionality to Firefox accelerates the rate of carbon production.

There are better ways of increasing the browser's share of the market. I propose: 1. Slashing your C-suite's compensation packages by 80%. 2. Spending the recouped cost on advertising the browser.

[Misila]

No.

You integrate AI, I stop using Firefox. And judging by the other replies I'm far from the only one.

[reillypascal]

Please DO NOT add this feature to Firefox. I've used and loved this browser for decades, and I appreciate that it's a genuine alternative to the Chromium-dominated browser landscape. As a privacy-conscious user and a musician I am not OK with how recent AI tools handle privacy or the intellectual property of creative professionals.

[genericuser]

Please don't do this. I too moved to Firefox to avoid all the AI and privacy nonsense that other browsers have started to employ. I like Firefox, but I'll leave it behind too if this is implemented.

[mermer]

No AI please 🙏🙏