Mastodawn

Melissa, Baroness of Nonsuch

Hey, Firefox - go fuck yourself. If I wanted to use Perplexity as a search engine in your browser (I don’t) I would’ve added it myself. You didn’t need to add it, enable it by default, and make me have to go figure out what this new random button in my search bar is. AI, like most new unproven tech, should be informed opt-in, not forcibly opt-out.

Assholes.

Mozilla's AI obsession has finally pushed me over the edge and to Vivaldi. It'll be too late for them to change track by the time they find out their core uses don't want AI.

@monkeyben @izzyamar they already know. they don't care.

Bishop Greer Godsey Dec 4

@monkeyben @izzyamar I use @Vivaldi now all the time. I wish there was an Ai free email app for phones and Macs. Can’t seem to find one.

I use Fair mail on Android, it's has tons of features and no AI.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.email

@izzyamar @Vivaldi

FairEmail, privacy aware email - Apps on Google Play

Fully featured, privacy oriented email app

Seán Fenian Dec 4

@izzyamar The Register has had a number of articles over the last six months about how utterly disconnected the Mozilla Foundation's leadership has become from Firefox's actual userbase. El Reg used the word "rudderless" more than once.

Mozilla's "leaders" don't seem to understand that if they eliminate from Firefox all of the reasons that people use it, people will no longer have any reason to use it.

Seán Fenian Dec 4

@izzyamar Afterthought: I saw a post just the other day listing all of the about:config options to set false to both speed up Firefox browsing AND disable all current 'AI' features. But I can't find it again now.

A good start is to go into about:config, put browser.ml in the search bar, and toggle EVERY browser.ml.*.enabled option that comes up to false, plus every true/false option ('.enabled' or otherwise) under browser.ml.chat.

:EA DATA. SF:Dec 4

@zakalwe @izzyamar
I didn't save the alt text, but I did save the image. I can't alt text this from my phone.

Edit: got out my laptop, here is the text.

A social network post from nckitterick from 20 November.

irritatingly, the list of AI settings in Firefox has grown. to kill them all as of today (Nov 20, 2026 [sic]), go into about:config and set all of these to false (yes, you'll have to copy and past them one by one):

browser.ml.enable
browser.ml.chat.enabled
browser.ml.chat.menu
browser.ml.chat.page
browser.ml.chat.page.footerBadge
browser.ml.chat.page.menuBadge
browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled
browser.ml.pageAssist.enabled
browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled
browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled
extensions.ml.enabled
browser.search.visualSearch.featureGate

in addition to nuking AI, it'll also speed up your browsing

Daniel Blake Dec 4

@zakalwe @izzyamar This one https://circumstances.run/@davidgerard/115649931911132896

David Gerard (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image anecdotal reports are that this makes Firefox noticeably faster that list of settings to disable: browser.ml.enable browser.ml.chat.enabled browser.ml.chat.menu browser.ml.chat.page browser.ml.chat.page.footerBadge browser.ml.chat.page.menuBadge browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled browser.ml.pageAssist.enabled browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled extensions.ml.enabled browser.search.visualSearch.featureGate

GSV Sleeper Service

Cassandrich Dec 4

@zakalwe @izzyamar Mozilla leadership have *always* been scummy dotcom era bros hostile to the mission. The people doing the real work manage to do that despite them, and are heroes. Firefox needs to be taken away from Mozilla.

tuban_muzuru Dec 4

A one-word answer : Vivaldi. Others agree.

I use an LLM every day, yet I do not want any sort of software behaving as if it has a place at the table - autoenable is just bad manners.

@izzyamar They are also destroying years of user contributions on their localized knowledgebase with AI: https://www.quippd.com/writing/2025/11/27/thank-mozilla-for-killing-localization-on-support-mozilla-and-replacing-human-contributions-with-AI-bots.html

Thank Mozilla for Killing Localization on Support Mozilla (And Replacing Human Contributions With AI Bots)

TL;DR: Mozilla is killing localization on Support Mozilla, overwriting articles written by humans with machine generated translations. Although Mozilla knows that their AI doesn’t localize or adhere to style guides, Mozilla is going live with it anyway. I thank locale leaders and localizers for their tireless efforts. Locale leaders seem to be obviated by AI, and Mozilla has nothing to say about it.

Youssuff Quips

Eric T. MacKnight Dec 4

@izzyamar Waterfox? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfox

Waterfox - Wikipedia

Medea Vanamonde 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 4

@izzyamar @phil
Now they are begging for money in browser at load.
They all sell out in the end

@MedeaVanamonde @izzyamar I never got on with #Firefox No specific reason, it just always seemed "clunky" to me.
And currently I have a special dislike for #Perplexity because they try to use AI to run their customer service, and it is, predictably, completely shit at doing it.

Corb_The_Lesser Dec 4

@izzyamar I've routinely disabled "Search Engines" in the #Firefox search bar for years so I didn't realize #Mozilla had added Perplexity.

AI in Firefox is not something its users want but I imagine it is something its funders want.

VulcanTourist Dec 4

I just removed Perplexity from the Search Shortcuts a month ago and moved on. I learned about it here in Mastodon. If there comes a day when I can't undo tactics like that, then I will reconsider abandoning it.

@izzyamar STOP USING FASHFOX ALREADY

Lesley M 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇪🇺Dec 4

@izzyamar
https://librewolf.net/

LibreWolf Browser

A custom version of Firefox, focused on privacy, security and freedom.

Felicity Martin Dec 5

@izzyamar Another company trying to ram AI down peoples’ throats. Unfortunately our governments (UK and Scotland) are spending thousands encouraging businesses to adopt AI.