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Mozilla is giving its Firefox browser an off-switch for AI features – a move other software developers should consider.
In a blog post, Mozilla’s Head of Firefox Ajit Varma said an upcoming version of Firefox will include a new AI control section that allows users to pick and choose from existing tools but also outright ban all future generative AI features from their version of the browser.
“We’ve heard from many who want nothing to do with AI,” Varma wrote. “We’ve also heard from others who want AI tools that are genuinely useful. Listening to our community, alongside our ongoing commitment to offer choice, led us to build AI controls.”
Arriving February 24th in Firefox 148, the control panel will let Firefox users outright ban generative AI tools, as well as pick and choose which they’d like to allow in the browser.
At launch, the controls will allow for individual management of AI tools including translations, Alt text in PDFs, AI-powered tab grouping, link previous, and the use of a third-party AI chatbot in a sidebar.
“If you don’t want to use AI features from Firefox at all, you can turn on the Block AI enhancements toggle. When it’s toggled on, you won’t see pop-ups or reminders to use existing or upcoming AI features,” said Varma, adding that AI preferences will stay in place across updates and can be changed at any time.
Mozilla’s move comes as the industry is methodically embedding AI in everything, everywhere all the time – which isn’t always welcome by users.
And there’s plenty of reasons not to want to use AI, ranging from the technology’s damaging impact on the environment to the fact it often still doesn’t work very well. Indeed, a survey by Gartner last summer showed six in ten people wish they could turn off AI results in search.
So why aren’t other companies following suit? It remains early days in the AI race, and any company that’s spent billions of dollars cramming the technology into their software won’t be ready to admit defeat quite yet.
But Microsoft may be edging closer to that point. A wider backlash against AI tools in Windows 11 was exacerbated last year by Windows President Pavan Davuluri saying on social media that Windows was “evolving into an agentic OS” , whatever that means.
Now, a report from Windows Central suggests Microsoft is reconsidering its AI plans with regards to Windows – and may even remove some AI-powered features. That includes potentially reworking controversial spyware/search-tool Recall.
As it should: if a feature is annoying to users – let alone regulators – it doesn’t matter if it’s the latest in AI or not. Keeping tools in, or forcing people to use them, not only risks angering your user base but risks throwing good money after bad. AI might solve some problems, but it’s not a panacea to every challenge on a desk workers’ to-do list.
That’s especially true when AI makes the experience worse – I’m looking at Google here, with its AI overviews in Search and “help me write” tools in Docs. At least there it’s possible to dodge AI Overviews in Google Search by using the Web tab, while in Google Docs you can opt out of Gemini, but that doesn’t turn off all new generative features.
Mozilla has nothing to lose by offering choice between all in on AI, a bit here and there where useful, and banning it outright. But Google, Microsoft and their rivals are desperate to win the AI race, and for that they need users and their usage data – even if it annoys us along the way.
