Mozilla lays off 60 people, wants to build AI into Firefox

Submitted ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨L4s@lemmy.world [bot]⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/mozilla-lays-off-60-people-wants-to-build-ai-into-firefox/

Mozilla lays off 60 people, wants to build AI into Firefox::Memo details layoffs, “strategic corrections,” and a desire for “trustworthy” AI.

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vext01@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Anyone else have AI fatigue?

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- SomethingBurger@jlai.lu ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  AI is the new NFT.
  
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  - fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    And right as crypto died off AI took off. We never had a break to get cheap GPUs.
    
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- just_another_person@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Like Marvel and Star Wars, friend.
  
  Enough is enough.
  
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  - FrostyTheDoo@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Sorry to hear that. Can I interest you in some Taylor Swift gossip or the latest news story about what Elon pooped out of his mouth this morning?
    
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TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It should be noted that this isn’t quite the same AI integration that the likes of Google/Microsoft are working on.

It’s trained using the data you authorise it to have, is run entirely locally, and doesn’t send information back to Mozilla.

Personally my main gripes with AI are unethical sourcing of training data, and data collection. It seems like these won’t be problematic in this case.

If AI integration is to happen (and we need to wait and see what the wider market outside of the Lemmy bubble wants), then this to me seems to be the best way to do it.

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- RonSijm@programming.dev ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  If AI integration is to happen […], then this to me seems to be the best way to do it.
  
  Well, to me the best way to do it would be for Mozilla to focus on being the best bare-bone, extendable browser.
  
  Then - if people want an AI in their browser - people should be able to install an AI extension that does these things. It’s a bit annoying they’re putting random stuff like Pocket, and now an AI in the core of the browser, instead of just making it an option to install extendable
  
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  - SSUPII@sopuli.xyz ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You forget people DON’T want to personalize, and most Firefox users aren’t power ones.
    
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  - TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That sounds great for a power user that loves to research what extensions and such to have in their browser, and likes to customise their system to be just how they like it, but it doesn’t sound like something with the wide-market appeal that Mozilla needs if they’re to become a mainstream name again.
    
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_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I just want a web browser that isn’t shit, please don’t ruin Firefox!

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- GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  There are always forks.
  
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  - SomethingBurger@jlai.lu ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Fireforks
    
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  - bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The forks will have trouble keeping up with browser development if the upstream enshittifies. Same reason chromium forks aren’t worth much
    
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  - Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It’s Firefox open source that the community can fork?
    
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sentient_loom@sh.itjust.works ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Dammit Firefox please.

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TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I desire the browser to work as well as it did a decade ago. It worked perfectly all the time. Now I’m task closing it once every days because an entire window just goes blank white and never context updates. The CPU usage randomly spikes super high. It eats RAM uncontrollably and seemingly never releases what it should and holds on to what it doesn’t need forever.

I don’t need AI. I need a good browser. And many of these issues are Chromium and why I switched from Chrome long ago (which I had switched to after FF broke all the extensions 20 years ago in the first place). This really shouldn’t be that hard.

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- TrickDacy@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  I desire the browser to work as well as it did a decade ago. It worked perfectly all the time.
  
  You have on rose colored glasses. As a web developer, no browser ever worked, works, it will work perfectly all the time and it’s not even close nor has it ever been. We have been inching toward that for 20 years but we’ll never get there unfortunately as it would require web standards to freeze and infinite effort to achieve.
  
  Now I’m task closing it once every days because an entire window just goes blank white and never context updates.
  
  Weird. I leave FF open for days and weeks on end. Rarely ever have an issue. I don’t see this one in particular. Which OS are you running?
  
  It eats RAM uncontrollably and seemingly never releases what it should and holds on to what it doesn’t need forever.
  
  I agree FF is not efficient enough with RAM, but on the other hand I normally see it under 5 GB despite leaving dozens of tabs open all the time. I think they opt to keep things in RAM so switching tabs won’t feel sluggish. It’s a trade off. I don’t think much of the RAM usage is unintentional.
  
  This really shouldn’t be that hard.
  
  You obviously are not a programmer.
  
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user224@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
What if they just instead spent that effort on actually improving the browser? They could bring back per-site useragents, add more media codecs, finally implement WebSerial API which Chrome has and is used more and more as everything moves into web browser environment, etc…

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squirrelwithnut@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
notlikethis.gif

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LuckingFurker@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Is there to be no browser where I can be free of AI?

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- RainfallSonata@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  No, there really isn’t. There isn’t going to be any form of technology where you can be free if it. And in that case, I don’t see how it will be possible for Mozilla to avoid it, even if they want to. At the very least, Firefox will have to interact with it elsewhere. It’s really best that they start figuring out what that’s going to look like, if a bit late.
  
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  - LuckingFurker@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The future is Dumb and I Hate It
    
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- mmababes@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  We must integrate ~~Skynet~~ AI into everything
  
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- kayazere@feddit.nl ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  ladybird.dev
  
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Nacktmull@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
What? Why? Nooooo!

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- smolyeet@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Not investing in AI is a good way to neuter your already non existent user base. Part of why edge took off even more is because generative ai was added. Regardless of our feelings about it, choosing to ignore what’s hot in tech would be foolish.
  
  The fakespot service is pretty useful when searching products on websites. It doesn’t have to be search results or code , but there are useful ways to invest in AI and maybe attract more users to your platform.
  
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dhork@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’d love to have more Weird Al in my browser …

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- kurcatovium@lemm.ee ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  What about Al Bundy?
  
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syd@lemy.lol ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Just make it built-in installed extension and let users to remove it. Or else I will not care browser monopoly and I’ll use Chromium derivatives.

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- TrickDacy@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Chromium derivatives. Which will undoubtedly be using non removable AI soon and also feed all your private data to Google directly without hesitation
  
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  - syd@lemy.lol ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    
    derivatives that doesn’t uses AI.
    
    Maybe Firefox fork? IDK I just don’t like bloat.
    
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tabular@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
For software to be trustable the public needs be able to see what it does (not necessarily as an individual but collectively). Normally that means we need the source code but “AI” can mean a system like an artifical neural network which isn’t enough to understand what it is actully doing (even with the training data).

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autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:

A TechCrunch report has a company memo that followed these layoffs, detailing one product shutdown and a “scaling back” of a few others.

reads the very top of the page; it then goes on to detail a lot of projects that aren’t in line with Mozilla’s core work of making a browser.

These non-browser projects could be seen as a search for a less vulnerable revenue stream, but none have put a huge dent in the bottom line.

TechCrunch managed to get an internal company memo that details a few “strategic corrections” for the myriad Mozilla products.

Mozilla seized an opportunity to bring trustworthy AI into Firefox, largely driven by the Fakespot acquisition and the product integration work that followed.

Mozilla paid an undisclosed sum in 2023 to buy a company called Fakespot, which uses AI to identify fake product reviews.

The original article contains 731 words, the summary contains 140 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Well I guess it’s a good thing they didn’t accept any of my 3 applications last year.

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bonus_crab@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Or, just use AI to build better features and detect bugs and security issues.

On a less pessimistic note, what AI features would actually be good in a browser? Maybe stuff like a console where you could ask

“block all the ads on this page” or “download this video” or something

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