Tell HN: It's now impossible to disable all AI features in Firefox 145 (latest)

There is a long list of about:config settings that allow users disable most of the recently introduced AI chatbot features in Firefox but unfortunately not all:

AI Context Menu is still displayed if browser.ml.chat.enabled is set to false:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1994785

"Ask an AI Chatbot" context menu is not hidden, even if Machie Learning is disabled:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1995119

Mozilla has pretty much ignored this issue for an entire month.

64 points

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pera

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a day ago

27 comments

LauraMedia ・ a day ago

Isn't it odd? All those tech CEOs tell us that we won't be able to live in a world without AI, how AI will be within every single app, service or codebase eventually...

And then they constantly try to shove it into their products, with no way to disable it. I'm assuming the user data would show that quite a lot of people would turn it off, so to not ruin your own statistics for the next shareholder/investor meeting, you need to force them

  • n2d4 ・ 15 hours ago

    > I'm assuming the user data would show that quite a lot of people would turn it off

    You would be wrong — outside of the Hacker News bubble very few people mess with their default settings, in any app.

roscas ・ a day ago

On LibreWolf 145.0.1-2 those options are still available. I set all to false. But for these AI options and many others and also not only for Firefox/LibreWolf, you do need to block the connections. Don't rely on disabling options because most will not respect that. If Firefox goes this path and break LibreWolf, we need to switch to a decent browser and there are a few, still blocking connections for Google and Mozilla, etc. If you're not able to block connections with a firewall, at least install a Pi-Hole so you can block ads and custom domains like Google and Mozilla and Fakebook crap.

genezeta ・ a day ago

Firefox 145 here, just updated to latest this morning.

My about:config settings still disable the stuff. I get no AI Context Menu.

  • pera ・ a day ago

    That's strange, which OS? I am on Arch and also on 145 and I get the "Ask an AI Chatbot" in the context menu. The settings used to work in the past so I am not sure what's going on.

    I believe these are all the settings I have disabled for AI:

    browser.ml.chat.enabled

    browser.ml.chat.menu

    browser.ml.chat.page

    browser.ml.chat.page.footerBadge

    browser.ml.chat.page.menuBadge

    browser.ml.chat.shortcuts

    browser.ml.chat.sidebar

    browser.ml.enable

    browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled

    browser.ml.pageAssist.enabled

    browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled

    browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnable

    browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled

    extensions.ml.enabled

    sidebar.notification.badge.aichat

    Am I missing anything?

    • microflash ・ a day ago

      Seems whatever I had disabled earlier is still disabled on my install of FF 145.

      I do have these additional settings.

      browser.ml.chat.maxLength=0 browser.ml.chat.prompt.prefix="{}" browser.ml.chat.prompts.0="{}" browser.ml.chat.prompts.1="{}" browser.ml.chat.prompts.3="{}" browser.ml.chat.prompts.4="{}" browser.ml.chat.shortcuts.custom=false browser.ml.linkPreview.longPress=false browser.ml.modelHubRootUrl="example.com"

    • genezeta ・ a day ago

      As far as I can see, that's it. Or at least I'm not seeing anything else related that I've disabled.

    • genezeta ・ a day ago

      I had to go out. When I'm back home in a few hours, I'll try to look up all I've disabled.

hallole ・ a day ago

Surely they're blowing substantial cash on this, right? I'm not sure what sort of cost/benefit analysis is convincing every last tech company to fit the bill for a gimmicky AI add on.

moxvallix ・ a day ago

Isn't that context menu the one that is disabled from within the context menu itself? Or have they removed that option?

  • partomniscient ・ 17 hours ago

    I just did this now. I can't remember exactly what it said, but something like "Remove AI chatbot" and I clicked it, and it was no longer in the context menu. Just after updating versioh 145.0.1 to 145.0.2.

Bender ・ a day ago

If it can't truly be disabled is there a question one could ask AI that is not illegal but would get their IP perma-banned? I have a static IP is why I am asking. Or perhaps domains that could be blocked in Unbound. What irritates AI owners the most?

Akhil34 ・ 14 hours ago

Has anyone verified if this is just a UI leftover, or if the underlying services are actually still active in the background even when disabled? I've been considering switching to a fork like LibreWolf if Mozilla keeps hard-baking these features into the core.

  • lxgr ・ 11 hours ago

    The “underlying services” are a web view in a sidebar that defaults to chatgpt.com or claude.ai.

    If you don’t open that, I’d be surprised if anything was instantiated or sent at all.

yoyo250 ・ 17 hours ago

You still have the option to disable the AI assistant. You simply need to disable the relevant item in about:config.

Ah...you ask which ones need to be disabled? Find it yourself. You have the right to disable it.

> The Mozilla Manifesto: Principle 9

> Commercial involvement in the development of the internet brings many benefits; a balance between commercial profit and public benefit is critical.

cebert ・ a day ago

Thanks for reminding me to disable this in about:settings. Mozilla is doing everything it can to push me away from Firefox.

RandomBacon ・ a day ago

Does any software have a survey for what users want? Instead of immediately pushing AI, they should have pushed a survey where AI was one of the choices/questions.

  • blibble ・ a day ago

    if they do that there's a risk of getting an answer they don't want

    • lxgr ・ 11 hours ago

      Showing a pop-up to a survey honestly seems more annoying than an unobtrusive “open LLM sidebar” context menu switch.

      Firefox also collects usage data if individual features (which can also be disabled), so they’ll learn about the adoption soon enough.

  • mmphosis ・ a day ago

    It is either a fork or new software based on what a people really want or need. This is not an easy hill to climb.

    Unfortunately, "configuration" is the survey. I detest both configuration and surveys. Modify the open source code and rip out the Artificial Inference code because Firefox is open source, or build software from scratch: servo, ladybird, your own web browser based on a survey.

devwastaken ・ 21 hours ago

they also removed the user facing setting to disable ocsp stapling - ocsp stapling leaks domain info. it can only be found in about:config now.

  • wolfgang42 ・ 18 hours ago

    I’m confused about for this assertion, for two reasons:

    - My understanding is that OCSP stapling stops leaks, because the browser can get OCSP data from the server instead of needing to fetch it separately.

    - Last I heard, Firefox was in the process of removing OCSP responder checks (precisely for privacy reasons) in favor of CRLite-based revocation checks—are you sure they didn’t remove whatever setting you’re referring to from the UI because it’s no longer relevant?

    • lxgr ・ 11 hours ago

      Shh, you’re interrupting the weekly Mozilla/Firefox shunning ceremony of HN with your uncomfortable looking at the facts.

asdcs ・ 14 hours ago

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asdcs ・ 14 hours ago

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