{"id":207336,"date":"2025-12-28T06:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T06:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/207336\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T06:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T06:27:10","slug":"after-outcry-firefox-promises-kill-switch-that-turns-off-all-ai-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/207336\/","title":{"rendered":"After Outcry, Firefox Promises “Kill Switch” That Turns Off All AI Features"},"content":{"rendered":"

The backlash against AI invading almost every aspect of the computing experience is growing by the day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Particularly as an onslaught of lazy AI slop subsuming news feeds<\/a>, the tech is starting to feel like a massive distraction \u2014 and huge parts of the internet are disillusioned or even fuming in anger.<\/p>\n

For instance, a vast number of Windows users refused to upgrade<\/a> after Microsoft announced<\/a> it would turn the operating system into a so-called \u201cagentic OS.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even household names in the open-source industry aren\u2019t safe. After being appointed as the new CEO of open-source software company Mozilla, whose Firefox browser has long been lauded as a compelling alternative to Google\u2019s Chrome and Apple\u2019s Safari, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo announced that it would be tripling down on AI.<\/p>\n

In a December 16 blog post<\/a>, Enzor-DeMeo announced that Firefox would become a \u201cmodern AI browser and support a portfolio of new and trusted software additions.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a ringing backlash quickly forced the company into damage control mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a company so astoundingly out of touch with the people who want to use its software,\u201d one disillusioned user tweeted<\/a> in response to the news. <\/p>\n

\u201cI switched back to Firefox late last year BECAUSE it was the last AI-free browser,\u201d another lamented<\/a>. \u201cI shoulda known.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease don\u2019t turn Firefox into an AI browser,\u201d yet another begged<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s a great way to push us to alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outcry was formidable enough for Mozilla to clarify the company\u2019s new CEO\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that hasn\u2019t been made clear: Firefox will have an option to completely disable all AI features,\u201d the company wrote in an update on Mastodon<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve been calling it the AI kill switch internally. I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll ship with a less murderous name, but that\u2019s how seriously and absolutely we\u2019re taking this.\u201d<\/p>\n

An open letter posted to the Firefox subreddit<\/a> took issue with Enzor-DeMeo\u2019s new direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIronically, in a post announcing this new direction and highlighting \u2018agency and choice,\u2019 there was little mention of user input or feedback,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cThis highlights a disconnect that many of us experience daily: Mozilla has a pattern of struggling to implement and support basic features, and much of the time fails to even acknowledge serious user feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFirefox doesn\u2019t need to become Google or Microsoft to succeed by both business and user standards,\u201d the letter goes on. \u201cIt\u2019s beloved precisely because it\u2019s not. I hope that distinction isn\u2019t lost as Mozilla enters its \u2018next chapter\u2019 as part of a \u2018broader ecosystem of trusted software.’\u201d<\/p>\n

In an apparent effort to reassure the company\u2019s most diehard fans, Enzor-DeMeo took to the comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cRest assured, Firefox will always remain a browser built around user control,\u201d he wrote<\/a>. \u201cThat includes AI. You will have a clear way to turn AI features off. A real kill switch is coming in Q1 of 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, his attempts to calm the situation ended up fanning the flames even further.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a \u2018kill switch\u2019 is the official control for this, then the entire organization needs to stop referring to your \u2018AI\u2019 features as \u2018opt-in,’\u201d one user responded<\/a>. \u201cThis is clearly opt-out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Mozilla can\u2019t agree to that basic definition, I don\u2019t see how users are supposed to trust it\u2019ll actually work,\u201d the user added.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the competing browser company Vivaldi, whose browser is based on Google\u2019s open-source Chromium project, has taken a dramatically different approach.<\/p>\n

In an August blog post<\/a>, Vivaldi CEO Jon von Tetzchner accused other companies like Google and Microsoft of \u201creshaping the address bar into an assistant prompt, turning the joy of exploring into inactive spectatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue building a browser for curious minds, power users, researchers, and anyone who values autonomy,\u201d von Tetzchner wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf AI contributes to that goal without stealing intellectual property, compromising privacy or the open web, we will use it,\u201d he added. \u201cIf it turns people into passive consumers, we will not.\u201d<\/p>\n

More on AI slop software: Vast Number of Windows Users Refusing to Upgrade After Microsoft\u2019s Embrace of AI Slop<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The backlash against AI invading almost every aspect of the computing experience is growing by the day. Particularly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,85,46,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-207336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}