| ▲ | alexgotoi 20 hours ago |
| This is exactly the kind of boring, unsexy feature that actually builds trust. It’s the opposite of the usual “surprise, here’s an AI sidebar you didn’t ask for and can’t fully disable” pattern.
If they want people to try this stuff, the path is pretty simple: ship a browser that treats AI like any other power feature. Off by default, clearly explained, reversible, and preferably shippable as an extension. You can always market your way into more usage; you can’t market your way back into credibility once you blow it. |
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| ▲ | 1vuio0pswjnm7 18 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| It is well-known as a result of the expert reports in US v Google that generally software users do not change defaults Whereas providing an option or a setting that the user must locate and change doesn't really mean much. Few users will ever see it let alone decide to change it For example, why pay 22 billion to be "the default" if users can just change the default setting |
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| ▲ | LexiMax 16 hours ago | parent [-] | | Mozilla is certainly paddling upstream. Of all of the AI-integrated apps and sites that I'm subjected to, I can think of exactly two where it wasn't obnoxious and a pain in the neck to disable. Kagi. Zed. That's it, that's the list. | | |
| ▲ | nicoburns 15 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Apple's Preview is my favourite. It uses AI to allow you to copy text from images. And that's it. | | |
| ▲ | FridgeSeal 14 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | This is my go to example of “ai features that are actually useful to me”. Ubiquitous OCR, and ubiquitous semantic search in photos. Not a chat bot. Not an “ask ai” button, just those things. | |
| ▲ | MarsIronPI 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | That's not "AI" in the sense of LLMs, which is what the recent trend in AI complaints is about. |
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| ▲ | dspillett 15 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > Kagi I've been toying with that for ages on and off. Finally now a paid up user due to the fact that their guesswork engine (or makey-upy machine, or your preferred name) can be easily turned off, and stays off until requested otherwise. |
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| ▲ | BloondAndDoom 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| My problem here is this; products are designed with a vision. If you are designing with 2-3 visions it won’t be that good, if you design with one vision (AI) then non-AI version of the product will be an after thought. This tells me non-AI version of it will suffer (IMHO) |
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| ▲ | nateb2022 17 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > if you design with one vision (AI) then non-AI version of the product will be an after thought That’s like saying if a car manufacturer adds a "Sport Mode", the steering wheel and brakes suddenly become an afterthought. Being AI-available means we'll welcome more Firefox users who would otherwise choose a different browser. Being AI-optional means we won't alienate the anti-AI crowd. Why not embrace both? | |
| ▲ | wkat4242 18 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | I don't agree. I think opinionated design products are much worse in general. It's really great when your opinions are aligned with those of the designer. If they're not, you're straight out of luck and you're stuck with something that isn't really for you. This is why I love software that gives as much choice as possible. Like KDE for example. Because I have pretty strong vision myself and I respect my tools to conform to that, not the other way around |
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| ▲ | RunSet 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| > This is exactly the kind of boring, unsexy feature that actually builds trust. Though not so much trust as an option to enable AI features would build. |
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| ▲ | troupo 19 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The trust is built by not enabling this by default, and by not burying the "kill switch" somewhere in settings that non-power users will never find. |
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| ▲ | johnnyanmac 18 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Worse yet, burying in settings where they give a big disclaimer that they can (and often are) reset when the browser updates. | |
| ▲ | bayindirh 18 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Currently disable switch is right next to AI chat bot settings. It’s pretty on your face. | | |
| ▲ | ragequittah 13 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I've been really confused as to what all the hubub is about. I think I saw the sidebar for about 4 seconds on each of my installs before I hid it forever. I tried to reenable it to see what people were complaining about but couldn't find it within 10 seconds so gave up. | | |
| ▲ | bayindirh 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | AFAIK, you can't enable them without resetting things in about:config. So it's a "big red button", and that's a good thing. |
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| ▲ | troupo 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Keyword: currently | | |
| ▲ | bayindirh 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | They said they'll create a Bigger Red Switch (TM), so this interim solution is better than nothing, and it's going to get better. If they're breaking their usual silence to talk about it on Mastodon via an employee/developer, they should better keep their word, because they're on a razor's edge there, and they'll be cut pretty badly if they slip on this one. |
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| ▲ | bstsb 20 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| saying "trying to slow down, I promise" doesn't magically make your blatant advert not spam edit: the original post ended with words to the tune of "Totally unrelated, but I run [insert newsletter here]... " |
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| ▲ | taurath 20 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| > It’s the opposite of the usual “surprise, here’s an AI sidebar you didn’t ask for and can’t fully disable” pattern. They literally shipped an AI sidebar nobody asked for. |
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