- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- technology@lemmy.world
Mozilla lays off 60 people, wants to build AI into Firefox::Memo details layoffs, “strategic corrections,” and a desire for “trustworthy” AI.
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What if they just instead spent that effort on actually improving the browser? They could bring back per-site useragents, add more media codecs, finally implement WebSerial API which Chrome has and is used more and more as everything moves into web browser environment, etc…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A TechCrunch report has a company memo that followed these layoffs, detailing one product shutdown and a “scaling back” of a few others.
reads the very top of the page; it then goes on to detail a lot of projects that aren’t in line with Mozilla’s core work of making a browser.
These non-browser projects could be seen as a search for a less vulnerable revenue stream, but none have put a huge dent in the bottom line.
TechCrunch managed to get an internal company memo that details a few “strategic corrections” for the myriad Mozilla products.
Mozilla seized an opportunity to bring trustworthy AI into Firefox, largely driven by the Fakespot acquisition and the product integration work that followed.
Mozilla paid an undisclosed sum in 2023 to buy a company called Fakespot, which uses AI to identify fake product reviews.
The original article contains 731 words, the summary contains 140 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
It should be noted that this isn’t quite the same AI integration that the likes of Google/Microsoft are working on.
It’s trained using the data you authorise it to have, is run entirely locally, and doesn’t send information back to Mozilla.
Personally my main gripes with AI are unethical sourcing of training data, and data collection. It seems like these won’t be problematic in this case.
If AI integration is to happen (and we need to wait and see what the wider market outside of the Lemmy bubble wants), then this to me seems to be the best way to do it.
Right now they’re using ‘AI’ for detecting fake reviews on sites, and to help power their offline translation.
If AI integration is to happen […], then this to me seems to be the best way to do it.
Well, to me the best way to do it would be for Mozilla to focus on being the best bare-bone, extendable browser.
Then - if people want an AI in their browser - people should be able to install an AI extension that does these things. It’s a bit annoying they’re putting random stuff like Pocket, and now an AI in the core of the browser, instead of just making it an option to install extendable
You forget people DON’T want to personalize, and most Firefox users aren’t power ones. If a browser has a feature, they want it bundled.
What browser do power users use?
curl
I think they use one of the FF forks. LibreWolf? I’ve never tried it but it’s the one I keep hearing around the fediverse.
That sounds great for a power user that loves to research what extensions and such to have in their browser, and likes to customise their system to be just how they like it, but it doesn’t sound like something with the wide-market appeal that Mozilla needs if they’re to become a mainstream name again.
Those people will just wonder why FF is missing basic functionality, then switch back to Chrome.
Well @ @TheGrandNagus and @SSUPII - you’re both saying most Firefox users are not power users and don’t want to spend time personalizing Firefox, but based on what? What random “Non-power-user” casually goes for Firefox over Chrome or Edge? The power of Firefox is adding a lot of customizations
So I think a lot of Firefox users are actually power users. And a lot of the non-power Firefox users, like my friends and family, they’re only using Firefox because I recommended them to use it, and I installed all the appropriate extensions to optimize their browser experience.
So if Firefox alienates the power users - who are left? I’m gonna move on to Waterfox or Librewolf, but they are even more next-level obscure browsers. My non-tech friends know about Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, so I can convince them to use one of those… But I kinda doubt I can get them to use Librewolf. If I tell them Firefox sucks now too, they’ll probably default to chrome
Anyone else have AI fatigue?
AI is the new NFT.
And right as crypto died off AI took off. We never had a break to get cheap GPUs.
i mean you can the people mostly doing AI arent buying Intel/AMD gpus.
Unless you’re of the type who will only buy Nvidia, then you’re part of the problem.
It is unfortunate but amd is just not competitive at the top tier of GPUs. You can make the argument that AMD cards are good enough, but DLSS is just magic that AMD cannot touch.
New and used GPU prices are still high. Right as prices started to dip close to reasonable levels all the 4090s started getting snapped up drying up the high end of the market. And with the horribly overinflated MSRP of mid range cards they’ve stayed high instead of dropping to a level that’s actually reasonable for their performance. It’s trickle down economics, but in the worst way possible for the consumer.
Like Marvel and Star Wars, friend.
Enough is enough.
Sorry to hear that. Can I interest you in some Taylor Swift gossip or the latest news story about what Elon pooped out of his mouth this morning?
Dammit Firefox please.
What? Why? Nooooo!
Not investing in AI is a good way to neuter your already non existent user base. Part of why edge took off even more is because generative ai was added. Regardless of our feelings about it, choosing to ignore what’s hot in tech would be foolish.
The fakespot service is pretty useful when searching products on websites. It doesn’t have to be search results or code , but there are useful ways to invest in AI and maybe attract more users to your platform.
notlikethis.gif
Is there to be no browser where I can be free of AI?
We must integrate
SkynetAI into everythingNo, there really isn’t. There isn’t going to be any form of technology where you can be free if it. And in that case, I don’t see how it will be possible for Mozilla to avoid it, even if they want to. At the very least, Firefox will have to interact with it elsewhere. It’s really best that they start figuring out what that’s going to look like, if a bit late.
The future is Dumb and I Hate It
Same, same.
I just want a web browser that isn’t shit, please don’t ruin Firefox!
There are always forks.
Fireforks
It’s Firefox open source that the community can fork?
Actually yes. Librewolf, Tor, and probably a dozen more are all forks of Firefox.
The forks will have trouble keeping up with browser development if the upstream enshittifies. Same reason chromium forks aren’t worth much
For software to be trustable the public needs be able to see what it does (not necessarily as an individual but collectively). Normally that means we need the source code but “AI” can mean a system like an artifical neural network which isn’t enough to understand what it is actully doing (even with the training data).
I desire the browser to work as well as it did a decade ago. It worked perfectly all the time. Now I’m task closing it once every days because an entire window just goes blank white and never context updates. The CPU usage randomly spikes super high. It eats RAM uncontrollably and seemingly never releases what it should and holds on to what it doesn’t need forever.
I don’t need AI. I need a good browser. And many of these issues are Chromium and why I switched from Chrome long ago (which I had switched to after FF broke all the extensions 20 years ago in the first place). This really shouldn’t be that hard.
I desire the browser to work as well as it did a decade ago. It worked perfectly all the time.
You have on rose colored glasses. As a web developer, no browser ever worked, works, or will ever work perfectly all the time and it’s not even close nor has it ever been. We have been inching toward that for 20 years but we’ll never get there unfortunately as it would require web standards to freeze and infinite effort to achieve.
Now I’m task closing it once every days because an entire window just goes blank white and never context updates.
Weird. I leave FF open for days and weeks on end. Rarely ever have an issue. I don’t see this one in particular. Which OS are you running?
It eats RAM uncontrollably and seemingly never releases what it should and holds on to what it doesn’t need forever.
I agree FF is not efficient enough with RAM, but on the other hand I normally see it under 5 GB despite leaving dozens of tabs open all the time. I think they opt to keep things in RAM so switching tabs won’t feel sluggish. It’s a trade off. I don’t think much of the RAM usage is unintentional.
This really shouldn’t be that hard.
You obviously are not a programmer.
Just make it built-in installed extension and let users to remove it. Or else I will not care browser monopoly and I’ll use Chromium derivatives.
Chromium derivatives. Which will undoubtedly be using non removable AI soon and also feed all your private data to Google directly without hesitation
- derivatives that doesn’t uses AI.
Maybe Firefox fork? IDK I just don’t like bloat.
You and me both. I can’t imagine FF won’t at least allow you to easily disable features like that.
I’d love to have more Weird Al in my browser …
