browser.ml.chat.enabled false
Mozilla under fire for Firefox AI "bloat" that blows up CPU and drains battery
Submitted 3 weeks ago by moe90@feddit.nl to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
Krudler@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Serinus@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
about:config
in your address barwoelkchen@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
You only disable the chat. Overall setting seems to be
browser.ml.enable.Krudler@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
browser.ml.enable
Thanks!
burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
I also see an extensions.ml.enable. Anyone with actual knowledge of the source code know what those are doing?
mesamunefire@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I hate how many of these you have to do on any new installation of Firefox.
Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
A space for vanilla ff experience extension, sort of like sanemacs?
58008@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
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.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Well, stupid people want it and they do use it when its shoved in their face. Like how samsung updated and BLATANTLY made their peice of shit AI button TAKE OVER THR POWER BUTTON so when you try to turn off your phone little old granny gets confused that an ai agent pops up and starts recording you. Absolutely infuriating and I wish torture on whoever implemented that shit.
btaf45@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Like how samsung updated and BLATANTLY made their peice of shit AI button TAKE OVER THR POWER BUTTON
Was that part of OneUI 7? I’m so glad I never installed that downgrade.
somethingsomethingidk@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Holy shit I had no idea until I read your comment. I thought “surely they will have respected all of my opt outs”. I guess this is my last samsung phone lol
JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
The kinds of people who want that switched to Google Chrome years ago. Only people who care more about software freedom than convenience are still using Firefox today.
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
It’s not a new updated it’s been that way for years.
swordgeek@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Mozilla has stopped working on developing and improving their products, and is now entirely focused on adding trendy terms and garbage, to feed money to their C*Os.
michaelmrose@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They in the last year or so added built in vertical tabs , much better hardware support for decoding video on Linux, continue to support manifest v2 and high quality ad blocking. Have increased performance and memory usage.
In the last 7 years performance is night and day different as is multiple process performance and switched away from unmaintainable old broken addon system.
They also created one of the premiere programming languages which is making in roads in the Linux kernel.
btaf45@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Literally no one on this green earth asked for this shit.
This is why I use the version of Firefox that does not update.
BJ_and_the_bear@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Maybe check out LibreWolf. It’s Firefox except with good defaults. Otherwise, it’s exactly the same
RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
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 even downloads the model if you never enable or use it.
ObviouslyNotBanana@piefed.world 3 weeks ago
I love that people get upset that their CPU is using its resources when they're using it.
Psythik@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Reminds me of how some people get upset when their OS uses up all their RAM, no matter how much they have. It’s like they want their PC to be sluggish and unresponsive. Unused RAM is wasted RAM.
callouscomic@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Why don’t they download more CPU? Are they stupid?
mannycalavera@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
I want my cou to be idle all the time! Damn it why did I spend so much on a CPU only for it to “do work”? FFS.
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
“I’ve noticed that my CPU, GPU, and power usage when I run games. Valve needs to fix this ASAP!”
BD89@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
Isn’t this enabled by default? And don’t you have to manually edit the config settings in the browser to disable it?
RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
It wasn’t for me
browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled = false
Mika@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
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.
alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
It is though.
FiskFisk33@startrek.website 2 weeks ago
then why the fuck is this newsworthy? ugh. Why is there such a huge hateboner for firefox lately?
ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
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.
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I never trusted them. Who would ever set up a nonprofit owned by a for profit company if not to decieve people?
I do appreciate the Open Sourced GECKO engine, though. I like Waterfox.
The_Decryptor@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
a nonprofit owned by a for profit company
It’s the other way around, the foundation owns the corporation.
Still feels like the corporation is the one making decisions though.
pheggs@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
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.
haloduder@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
Their revenue is fine.
They just waste it on unnecessary bullshit.
They’re a business, after all. They don’t care about their products. They care about doing the least among of work while making the most amount of money.
It’s not about keeping the lights on. It’s about living as luxurious a life as possible.
pheggs@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
They care about doing the least amount of work while making the most amount of money.
I mean that’s what capitalism in a nutshell. Lower costs and increase the price. It’s optimized for profit, not for the best product, unfortunately. The only thing that should keep it within lines is competition, but if the competition isn’t any better it won’t help
cley_faye@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They haven’t needed donations for years. In the current situations donos are, at best, part of the CEO and top-brass bonus.
pupbiru@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
it’s even worse than that tho: donations are for the mozilla foundation which is doing all the nonsense everyone hates… firefox is the mozilla corporation, which is a distinct entity
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DONATE TO FIREFOX
pheggs@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
could be, I can’t judge that. do you have any source for that info or is it based on an assumption?
DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 2 weeks ago
That’s basically what LibreWolf does.
Kissaki@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
How do you make browsling a good experience, other than performance?
I like the webpage translation it offers. I’d hate to lose it. And I’m sure debloating would inevitably mean losing features that are required to catch the average internet user.
melroy@kbin.melroy.org 2 weeks ago
They aren't doing anymore for years. I moved to forks of ff instead.
nectar45@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Firefox is a good example of “either you die a hero or live long enoigh to see yourself become the villian”
madcaesar@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s also an example of a smaller company trying fight a mega Corp with infinite money, gained via unethical means.
People are shitting on Firefox while ignoring what they are up against.
I have no solution for their funding issue, what are they supposed to do? Charge for the browser or ads? There’s literally no other alternative and I don’t know what the solution is.
What I do know is that once FF dies and chrome fully owns the web we are well and truly fucked.
Honesty it might already be too late.
DFX4509B@lemmy.wtf 2 weeks ago
So is RHEL.
pycorax@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
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?
not_IO@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
it might have been Laura Chambers, who is CEO since early 2024.
It has been less than a week since the new interim CEO took over the reigns from long-time Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker. Today news broke that Mozilla is changing its product strategy going forward. The organization plans to focus on bringing “trustworthy AI into Firefox” and to scale back some of its other products and services.
Breaking: Mozilla changes strategy, focuses on Firefox and AI
She used to work for McKinsey according to her Wikipedia which explains a lot if you ask me.
orclev@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Sadly this is nothing new for Mozilla. It’s easier to count the decisions they’ve made that aren’t terrible than the ones that are. Their history is a long series of fuckups occasionally punctuated by a decent decision.
absquatulate@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Even if they wanted to bank on the adblocker thing I imagine they can’t because they have to stay in Google’s good graces. Like 90% of their revenue was google money, and has been for years now.
At this point I’d honestly even pay for a privacy focused mozilla browser that is clean of all this crap, just to keep them afloat, but fat chance of that happening.
hummingbird@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The company is doomed with this kind of leadership
Jason2357@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
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.
Nalivai@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Oh, so that’s what the fuck it was. I was wondering why my tabs were getting grouped without any logic or reason. Impressive ability to make everything actively worse
BurgerBaron@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I just want a web browser that's not based in the USA.
themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Mozilla does it again, adding useless crap.
regedit@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
First thing I did when some hey we added AI… was to right-click and disable it.
Gsus4@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
Just make it an official extension ffs…
nothingcorporate@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Waterfox and/or Librewolf FTW
raldone01@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I just wish one could donate to firefox development specifically. Then they could rid it of all the ai and tracking stuff.
comador@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
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.
Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
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.
paequ2@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
Come to LibreWolf, the waters fine!
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Is that what the FUCK has been happening? I’ve been having tabs just BLOW Up in ram and CPU usage
massivemeatballs@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’ll keep using LibreWolf as my main browser while keeping an eye on Ladybird with my fingers crossed.
Taleya@aussie.zone 2 weeks ago
You can just …turn it off tho.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Awful Idea? Anal Intrusion? Actually Irrelevant?Activating Idiocy? Adding Incompetence?
_AutumnMoon_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
where is this AI bloat exactly? I use Firefox every day and see no difference
yarr@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
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.
Pjonathan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I was actually wondering why it felt like my Firefox was dying, possible could align with this.
flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Without having much knowledge of AI models beyond surface level stuff I read, but a good understanding on how computers work it seems fairly predictable to me that running an AI model in the browser session locally could be kind of heavy on the CPU usage. As such you would think as a developer you would start with adding the feature as off by default, so users that want it can turn it on and you can get some real world metrics on how bad that hit is going to be before bending the entire userbase over the AI kitchen table.
So both doing it for something as trivial as tab grouping and making it something you have to go into
about:configto disable seems really stupid.tjsauce@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Waterfox has been pretty good lately
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 2 weeks ago
Yeah I don’t like ai stuff. And I certainly don’t need AI to group my tabs. I can do that myself just fine.
funkyfarmington@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Hmm, I bet Librewolf doesn’t have that…
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
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 that just can’t be done conventionally.
But this:
Take out the word AI.
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, but this is just stupid.
DaddleDew@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
When I’m browsing around with multiple tabs open, the last thing I want is something to start moving them around and messing my flow up. This is a solution looking for a problem.
otter@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Yup
The auto naming feature is neat in some cases, like the AI chats themselves
Tab groups don’t hit those points at all
Godort@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Venture capital dumped so much money into the tech without understanding the full scope of what it was capable of. Now they’re so in so deep that they desperately NEED to find something profitable it can do, otherwise they’ll lose the farm.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Firefox has little financial motivation for this, though?
Other than getting “AI” investor money, if that’s the plan… But otherwise it just feels like they’re following a meme.
Saleh@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
I agree with you on almost everything.
Here i disagree. ML is using high dimensional statistics. There exist many problems, which are by their nature problems of high dimensional statistics.
If you have for an example an engineering problem, it can make sense to use an ML approach, to find patterns in the relationship between input conditions and output results. Based on this patterns you have an idea, where you need to focus in the physical theory for understanding and optimizing it.
Another example for “generative AI” i have seen is creating models of hearts. So by feeding it the MRI scans of hundreds of real hearts, millions of models for probable heart shapes can be created and the interaction with medical equipment can be studied on them. This isn’t a “desperate” approach. It is a smart approach.
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Fair point. Not on the semantics, but on taking the best approach, yeah.
tabular@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How do you tell what the patterns are, or how to interpret them?
acosmichippo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
even without AI, to me tab groups are already feature creep bloat in browsers. do people really put that much effort into organizing tabs?
exu@feditown.com 3 weeks ago
I like the tab groups. I use them often at work to group an issue with related tabs and my attempts at solving it. Also makes it easier to pause work on one problem and work on something else because I have the tabs grouper and know exactly where to go back.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 weeks ago
No, but I think the idea of a second layer of organization to tabs is a wonderful idea. Maybe not a gig of RAM to sort them, sure.
mr_satan@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Yes, especially at work. Different tasks, different tab groups. Once the task is done, the group dies. Really useful when working on multiple tasks at “the same time”.
Pair that with multi account containers and temporary containers and it’s a godsend tool for web dev.
hisao@ani.social 2 weeks ago
You probably look at tabs as something inherently transient. In my tab group powered workflow a lot of tabs are persistent between browser restarts and stay open at all times. To try to formalize it, there is a set of core tabs that are permanently open, and there are transient tabs are opened and closed from those core tabs. Before tab groups I used “Tree Style Tab” extension but I like tab groups more. It’s especially cool tab groups are integrated well with containers so that you can have for example I2P tab group tied to I2P container configured to use I2P proxy port to automatically browse all tabs opened within group through your I2P proxy port.
cley_faye@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It is to some people. My approach though, when I happen to have multiple “work group” to organize, is just to use my OS ability to have multiple windows. No need for any extra bloat, the feature is already there, and it works as I’m used to.
But apparently, using the tools already available to you is not a common skill these days :(
RecursiveParadox@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
For work at any given point I have 17-20 tabs open. It’s totally useful for me to sort them into tabs to cut out the “noise” when I’m doing research.
tabular@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I started using tab groups when they released vertical tabs.
a_wild_mimic_appears@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Another local LLM guy here, i fully agree with you - this is just a move to probably acquire capital in the case that the google-cashflow stops.