Regarding last boost: "Firefox For Web Developers" is out here urging me to stop using Firefox.

#Mozilla #Firefox #DarkPatterns#antifeatures #AISlop #NoAI #NoAIWebBrowsers #AICruft #AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #LLMs #tech #dev #web

Mozilla's new CEO is all-in on AI regardless of what Firefox users want: https://lwn.net/Articles/1050826/

Third: Firefox will grow from a browser into a broader ecosystem of trusted software. Firefox will remain our anchor. It will evolve into a modern AI browser and support a portfolio of new and trusted software additions.

He says the word "trust" a whole bunch of times yet intends to turn an otherwise nice web browser into a slop-slinging platform. I don't expect this will work out very well for anyone.

"It will evolve into a modern AI browser" sounds like a threat. Good way to start off on the right foot, new Mozilla CEO (sarcasm).

#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #AntiFeatures #DarkPatterns #AISlop #firefox #mozilla #NoAI

Based on the answers to this StackOverflow question and this blog post, here are the 16 (!!!) AI-related settings in new versions of Firefox that you'll want to disable/set to false, and that might be turned back on with each update:

- browser.aiwindow.enabled
- browser.ml.chat.enabled
- browser.ml.chat.menu
- browser.ml.chat.page.footerBadge
- browser.ml.chat.page.menuBadge
- browser.ml.chat.page
- browser.ml.chat.shortcuts
- browser.ml.chat.sidebar
- browser.ml.enable
- browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled
- browser.ml.pageAssist.enabled
- browser.ml.smartAssist.enabled
- browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled
- browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled
- extensions.ml.enabled
- sidebar.notification.badge.aichat 

Enter "about:config" in the browser bar and then search for each of these and disable them, turn them off, or set them to false as appropriate.

Depending on which version of Firefox you have you may not have all these configuration options.

Check your smartphone browsers too!

#firefox #mozilla #AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #SmartIsSurveillance #tech #dev #web #NoAI #AICruft #antifeatures

It looks like Microsoft's planned total keylogger might be forced on users of Windows 11 this summer regardless of whether or not they buy a "Copilot+ PC":

https://www.pcgamesn.com/windows-11/ai-app-watermark

The features of AI Explorer sound impressively powerful. Specifically, it’s expected to largely run as a background app, capturing data on everything you do with your PC. It will then allow you to recall and interact with all this data in a natural language manner.

For instance, it might read your emails, your browsing history and your WhatsApp messages then you can use the app to ask for a summation of the emails you received today or what the name of the website you were browsing earlier was.

This is starting to look like a nightmare on a number of levels. Imagine someone who is not you being able to "interact with all this data in a natural language manner".

Opt out, if it is available, is not a comfort. If history is any guide it won't be long before this "AI Explorer" is woven into every part of Windows and the operating system feels crippled without it. You will almost surely be harassed regularly to turn it on. Local processing is not a comfort either. Even if you choose to believe Microsoft on this, which is a risky choice, cyberattackers and ransomware attackers have no limits on what they'll take, not to mention members of your household who do not respect your boundaries or employers with boundary and trust issues.

To me this feels like an unethical and dangerous choice on Microsoft's part.

#AI #GenerativeAI #AntiFeatures #PrivacyNightmare #Microsoft #Recall