Mozilla downsizes as it refocuses on Firefox and AI: Read the memo | TechCrunch
techcrunch.com
After installing a new interim CEO earlier this month, Mozilla, the organization behind the Firefox browser, is making some major changes to its product
  • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    136·
    10 months ago

    I don’t need or want any of that AI crap in my browser. Hopefully there will be a compiler flag to disable it.

    • hendrik@lemmy.ml
      106·
      10 months ago

      For what it’s worth… I think there are useful AI tools. For example the offline translation feature that doesn’t send your content to google is something they recently introduced. I’d also like to see someone compete with a decent and open text-to-speech solution that gets wide adoption… And the idea of flagging fake reviews doesn’t sound too bad (I haven’t tried it.) I mean people are complaining about SEO making google unusable and fake news only ever getting more. I can see some benefit there - if done right.

      But we definitely don’t need a Clippy 2.0 or another smart assistant. And I don’t think everything has to be embedded in a browser and make it yet more complicated and bigger, or implemented in the operating system. An add-on will probably do.

      (Edit: And I sometimes don’t understand Mozilla. Why not focus on their core product and make that exceptionally great? If they’re already struggling… What’s with all these side-projects and dabbling in AI anyways?)

      • m-p{3}@lemmy.ca
        4·
        10 months ago

        One feature that could be neat is having a locally-generated summary of a page, as well as suggested tags when bookmarking.

        • rufus@discuss.tchncs.de
          3·
          10 months ago

          Uh yeah, I’m not sure. I’ve tried summarizing with AI tools. And there is the bot here on Lemmy that summarizes stuff… I never liked any of that. It’s really a mixed bag, from pretty okay summaries to entirely missing the point of the original article to bordering on false information. I think we’re far from there yet. However, it’s a common use-case for AI. Maybe in 1-2 years I can stop being afraid of misinformation being fed to me. Currently, I think the incorrectness of the information still outweighs any potential benefit. The more complicated it gets, thus making you in need of a summary in the first place, the more biased and skewed the results get. So I don’t see that happen in the very near future. But we definitely should keep up doing the research and pushing that.

          Tagging and organizing is something I’d like an AI for.

          • pizzaboi@lemm.eeEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

            Imagine spending hours writing and editing something with care only for an LLM to “summarize“ it, completely missing any nuance or sarcasm, removing any creative bits or humor, while also making the wrong point altogether. To top it off anyone unwilling to read your story, their time is valuable after all (but not yours, apparently), will now repeat the LLM’s interpretation to anyone they’d like, whether it’s accurate or not.

            It’s an abysmal direction to go for misinformation and even more abysmal for writers. Good content becomes irrelevant and people become less and less willing to pay for a writer’s time and expertise. Why not write with an LLM if a large percentage of your readers summarize the piece with an LLM anyways? Just need more eyeballs to justify our Google Ads spending.

            Built into a “private” browser or not, it’s just another nail in the coffin of a web built by and for humans.

            • rufus@discuss.tchncs.de
              3·
              10 months ago

              I think you’re completely right with that assessment. Journalist used to be a reputable profession. And explaining things and processing raw information into something that can be consumed by the reader, deemed important. Especially getting it right. There is a whole process to it if you do it professionally. And curating content and deciding what is significant and gets an audience is equally as important.

              Doing away with all of that is like replacing your New York Times with your 5-year-old and whatever she took from watching the news.

    • e8d79@feddit.de
      21·
      10 months ago

      I am very skeptical when it comes to machine learning and all the hype surrounding it, but it’s not all bad. For example an improved firefox translate would be a nice feature to have. There might also be some usecases for accessibility or adblocking.

    • frozen@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
      20·
      10 months ago

      In general, I agree, but it seems Mozilla is trying to do the right thing by AI. Offline translation is neat. And the Review Checker they just introduced uses AI to spot fake Amazon reviews. I think that’s pretty cool.

      • CaptObvious@literature.cafe
        5·
        10 months ago

        From the article:

        Mozilla seized an opportunity to bring trustworthy AI into Firefox, largely driven by the Fakespot acquisition and the product integration work that followed. Additionally, finding great content is still a critical use case for the internet. Therefore, as part of the changes today, we will be bringing together Pocket, Content, and the AI/ML teams supporting content with the Firefox Organization.

        Seems like they’re planning to incorporate AI into the browser.

    • FaceDeer@kbin.social
      2·
      10 months ago

      I’m sure there’ll be some little forked version of Firefox without the features you can’t abide simply turning off in the settings.

  • Steve@lemmy.todayEnglish
    124·
    10 months ago

    Can they just focus on the browser? I really don’t need the AI stuff.

    • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
      52·
      10 months ago

      The issue is that Firefox alone doesn’t pay the bills and I’d imagine they really want to get away from being dependent on the Google deal they have.

      We don’t need AI stuff but if they can get some good funding from it, they can put more into the browser

      • InfiniWheel@lemmy.one
        28·
        10 months ago

        Arguably the issue here is that Firefox pays too many of the bills, directly from its main competitor

          • Blisterexe@lemmy.zip
            3·
            10 months ago

            And maybe merge the two, like adding a tldr feature to reader mode, instead of an obnoxious sidebar like a lot of browsers right now

          • 0x1C3B00DA@kbin.social
            1·
            10 months ago

            Mozilla seized an opportunity to bring trustworthy AI into Firefox

            Therefore, as part of the changes today, we will be bringing together Pocket, Content, and the AI/ML teams supporting content with the Firefox Organization

            This is from the Mozilla release. The second quote does say “Firefox Organization” and not “Firefox”, but it seems clear they are planning on integrating AI into Firefox.

            But, I’ve reread @NotSteve_'s comment and they were saying the funding earned from AI could be put into Firefox, not AI itself. NotSteve wasn’t claiming that putting AI into Firefox would bring in more funding, only that AI could be a separate source of revenue. So my question is moot.

  • matlag@sh.itjust.works
    73·
    10 months ago

    Mozilla downsizes as it refocuses on Firefox and AI drops multiple products and layoff 60 so that its current budget can accomodate the stratospheric compensation of its new CEO.

    • LemmyHead@lemmy.ml
      15·
      10 months ago

      Actually I think AI in browser could potentially become a much more effective content blocker than ad blockers like ublock in the future.

      • Madis@lemm.ee
        2·
        10 months ago

        I recall there being at least one content blocker that worked by heuristics instead of rulesets. Cannot remember the name, but it was clearly not as effective as conventional ones, because not all ads look the same and usually people want to block the invisible trackers as well.

    • Amju Wolf@pawb.socialEnglish
      10·
      10 months ago

      I dunno, having a free, open model made by a trusted company would be nice. I like initiatives like Mozilla Voice, this could be something similar. Probably not great if it’s replacing focus on the other things though.

    • Hadouken Shoryuken@feddit.nlEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      100% agreed. I just hope whatever this AI they are thinking isnt about what info I should consume. What the AI think is good doesnt mean its the only info I should consume.

  • doctortofu@reddthat.com
    41·
    10 months ago

    Sigh, and here I was, thinking Microsoft trying to shove its useless (to me) AI down my throat at every opportunity was annoying… Quo vadis Mozilla, what are you guys doing… :(

    • slaacaa@lemmy.world
      16·
      10 months ago

      She spent 2 yrs at McK 20+ yrs ago - hardly a personality-defining milestone, given how a lot of business students start their career in consulting.

      • anachronist@midwest.socialEnglish
        16·
        10 months ago

        I mean that’s pretty standard for a McKinsey ghoul:

        • Step 1: go to an ivy league college, get a business degree
        • Step 2: work for McKinsey for a few years as an associate
        • Step 3: get a job at a McKinsey client leapfrogging everyone else into management/c-suite
        • Step 4: hire McKinsey to bring their arrogant children into your org and screw things up

        Everything about her subsequent career has been going from one upper management/c-suite role in a tech company to another. This is not the resume of a person who should be running a nonprofit that controls the most important open source project on the internet. But beyond that just look at what she’s done in her one month at Mozilla:

          1. Massive round of layoffs
          1. “Focus on {buzzword}” where {buzzword} in this case is AI

        That’s straight out of the McKinsey playbook.

  • FlumPHP@programming.dev
    29·
    10 months ago

    While we resourced mozilla.social heavily to pursue this ambitious idea,

    How many people do you need to administer a Mastodon instance? I’m pretty sure infosec.exchange is like one dude.

  • 🦊 OneRedFox 🦊@beehaw.orgEnglish
    28·
    10 months ago

    Specifically, Mozilla plans to scale back its investment in a number of products, including its VPN, Relay and, somewhat remarkably, its Online Footprint Scrubber

    IMO these were their best products. 🙁

    Going forward, the company said in an internal memo, Mozilla will focus on bringing “trustworthy AI into Firefox.” To do so, it will bring together the teams that work on Pocket, Content and AI/Ml.

    Ugh, god damn it.

    • pingveno@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I would assume they’re taking a hard look at revenue figures. I currently do use their VPN, but my impression is that it isn’t much more than a repackaging of Mullvad VPN. No idea about the other products. Is their Relay and Scrubber offering more outstanding?

      • InfiniWheel@lemmy.one
        1·
        10 months ago

        The scrubber is also a repackage, but their relay does seem useful, as a barebones SimpleLogin/Addy.io at least

  • ombremadEnglish
    21·
    10 months ago

    The worst enemy of Mozilla is: Mozilla. This hasn’t changed in many years.

  • sub_ubi@lemmy.ml
    21·
    10 months ago

    Specifically, Mozilla plans to scale back its investment in a number of products, including its VPN, Relay and, somewhat remarkably, its Online Footprint Scrubber, which launched only a week ago.

    I just purchased an annual plan for Monitor, partially to help Mozilla. I guess this is my thanks

    • forked_bytes@lemm.ee
      6·
      10 months ago

      The data privacy angle was just editorialized headlines, the CEO statement did not mention it.