this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
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[–] natecox@programming.dev 85 points 1 day ago (4 children)

“Changes course after backlash” != “clarifies”.

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 11 hours ago

~~Changes course~~ swerves erratically before continuing in the same general direction.

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 38 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

I dunno that seems very compatible with the following that was said in the CEO statement.

AI should always be a choice — something people can easily turn off.

Also here is a link to the posts https://mastodon.social/@firefoxwebdevs/115740500373677782

Also, the dev says the following and I think they have a point.

I'm not asking for faith in our direction - the thing I love about the Firefox community is how open, honest, and technical it is.

But I do ask that you don't have the opposite of faith. Like, try not to be determined that we're going to do the wrong thing here.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 11 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Something easily turned off is distinctly not opt in. They're still lying to everyone.

Earlier today I found a fucking AI feature automatically turned on... Those idiots need to get their shit straight and fast if they want to remain relevant.

[–] The_Decryptor@aussie.zone 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Something easily turned off is distinctly not opt in. They’re still lying to everyone.

It's just that nobody can agree what "opt-in" actually means, apparently.

[–] MotoAsh@piefed.social 4 points 8 hours ago

It means off by default for starters.

[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 24 points 1 day ago

try not to be determined that we're going to do the wrong thing here.

There's a lot Mozilla has done right, but there's a lot they haven't done right as well. These days, the cynical view has proven itself to be more reliable in general, so it's hard not to apply it here as well.

That being said, FF has supported AI chatbots for a while and I haven't seen it come up once in my browser beyond when they said "this is a thing now". But this has also been a good opportunity to explore alternatives, so I'm trying out Zen now (ff-based still).

[–] natecox@programming.dev 19 points 1 day ago

“Can easily turn off” implies that it ships to you on.

Honestly, asking us to assume that every action comes from a place of good will just makes me doubt them even more. You earn that kind of trust, you don’t ask for it; and if they don’t have it they should be asking hard questions about why.

They are a company that used to be about independent choice but are effectively reliant on Google (a privacy nightmare) to be solvent, and they’re now putting their bets into being “a modern AI browser”. Nothing about that tells me I should just trust them.

[–] theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 21 hours ago

Maybe but I although critical of some recent firefox actions think its possible given the og statement it is a clarification from a somewhat vague statement that was taken in the worst possible way by some and posted again and again often by people not even reading beyond the headline.

[–] Alaknár@piefed.social -2 points 1 day ago

They already said as much two or three months ago, but sure, believe that everybody is out to get you via forced AI.