Firefox uses on-device downloaded-on-demand ML models for privacy-preserving translation.

@firefoxwebdevs hey team, I'm happy that you're doing this, but I think you're caught in a really bad loop.

There is a significant Community backlash against a very specific tool, the LLM. Often just "the chatbot LLM". But that tool has become so ubiquitous, that it has become known as "the AI". For some people, anything that looks like AI might as well be Skynet.

People are spiraling, they're questioning not just LLMs, but anything that looks like it could be non-deterministic probabilistic code.

And look, I know that you run Common Voice, I'm a contributor. But we're not at the point where people are going to question even products that fall out of that project.

Little mini surveys like this are not going to quell any of that backlash.

I think we're at the spot where talking more broadly about where Mozilla uses these non-deterministic tools and how they were sourced is probably a good broad initiative.

@cassidy @firefoxwebdevs The term "AI" has existed since 1956 so of course it's going to have a very broad definition.

Things don't just stop being "AI" when AI researchers invent newer "more AI" stuff.

@firefoxwebdevs Where is the poll for "should the kill switch default to active/ON"?

@jaffathecake @Fnordinger I do! my source is this thread and the thread linked in the OP: https://wandering.shop/@xgranade/115772870672213549 category IV is the most relevant one but you’ll want to read the entire thing

@firefoxwebdevs @zzt move all the “AI” to add-ons. Leave the browser for what a browser should be: to browse.

@rose_alibi
i like the #firefox #translation because it helps make the web less US-centric by making international web more accssible.

#firefox #translations actually respect privacy, as opposed to #googletranslate, so i can use them for the government websites that i don't always understand, because i'm not swedish speaker.

i don't get why this feature is lumped in with the privacy nightmare chat bots?

@firefoxwebdevs LLM is quantity, not quality. I don't see a distinction between "Open Data" and corporate raiding of the Internet, it's the same issue.

Aggregating data to replace logic until it can replace logic a percentage of the time is the issue. It's reintroducing a solved problem because shareholders want AI down everyone's throats.

@raymaccarthy @firefoxwebdevs @zzt I don't want a "browser experience". If it's doing its job, I won't be aware of it at all. I only use a browser as a viewer of content, period.

A browser should make websites viewable and allow the user to store locations in a way that makes sense to the *user*. Not a designer, not a bonehead CEO who thinks AI is really spiffy.

That's all it should do. It's very clear that browser execs never use tools. They have no idea what "tool" means.

@firefoxwebdevs I mean realistically, we have about:config at home, and y'all are already not respecting that

why the future "KILL SWITCH" carrot? it just comes across like a Musk promise

@firefoxwebdevs The frame of this question is risible.

I am begging you to just make a web browser.

Make it the best browser for the open web. Make it a browser that empowers individuals. Make it a browser that defends users against threats.

Do not make a search engine. Do not make a translation engine. Do not make a webpage summariser. Do not make a front-end for an LLM. Do not make a client-side LLM.

Just. Make. A. Web. Browser.

Please.

@raymaccarthy @firefoxwebdevs @zzt
+1, and fix the excessive idle CPU consumption !

@firefoxwebdevs

Please just create a very good browser and drop all of the AI bollocks.

It's not helping. No-one wants it. Improve the rendering engine and fix bugs.

Please!

@m0rpk @firefoxwebdevs

@firefoxwebdevs Said translation should be an opt-in extension you can install if you want it. Not a core component at all.

@firefoxwebdevs @zzt You ignored the firefox userbase's voice when it came to adding AI in the first place, don't pretend you're listening now when you're really just trying to get the users to come up with justifications for what you have already decided to do. Firefox users have repeatedly said we do not want AI features imstalled by default, you chose not to listen and now you're trying to find ways you can feel less bad about that by pretending you gave people options when it comes to AI usage, rather than taking one away.

If you cared about what 'the community' wants, you would have asked people when the AI notion was first pitched and taken no for an answer, but yet again, AI enthusiasts have acted without consent.

@firefoxwebdevs dunno, deleted as soon as you added Artificial Intelligence and never came back.

@firefoxwebdevs as a user, I like and use translation. Having one app render and translate content makes sense to me.

I like how you do it (incl on-device, on-demand and privacy-preserving, and open data (assuming it means not copyrighted?)).

Because of both, it is clearly different from other “AI” to me, even if it technically would use language models that are large, and this poll makes sense to me.

It's tricky, I voted, but wasn't super sure. I think granular controls would be great.

@saphkey @raymaccarthy Printing with curl for Dummies. When?

@pixel @firefoxwebdevs @zzt I hope our friend resists the urge to put a pretty face on all of our blunt feedback before the next meeting where the objective will be further redefining what level of damage control will magically turn Mozilla's bad choices into good ones.

@firefoxwebdevs I appreciate that you're asking us Firefox users for our opinion on a feature. Keep doing this please.