New Mozilla Firefox version to allow AI features to be blocked

‘Controls must be simple. AI should always be a choice,’ said Mozilla’s CEO in a December blogpost.

Mozilla will allow Firefox users to entirely block current and future generative AI features on the browser after user feedback revealed many who wanted an AI-free browser experience.

In a blogpost yesterday (2 February), the corporation announced that the new Firefox 148, which rolls out later this month, will come with controls to review and manage which AI features a user wants enabled. This will allow Firefox users to use the browser without AI if they so wish, while Mozilla continues developing newer AI features for those who do want it.

“We’ve heard from many who want nothing to do with AI. We’ve also heard from others who want AI tools that are genuinely useful,” said Firefox head Ajit Verma. Firefox is one of the many products that Mozilla – wholly owned by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation – offers, along with a virtual private network, work management tools and other cybersecurity products.

With the new Firefox version, users can individually choose to use AI translations, alt texts in PDF files, AI-enhanced tap grouping, link previews and AI chatbots, including options such as Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Mistral. Plus, those who don’t want any AI features at all can block all AI enhancements.

These features will be available first on Firefox Nightly – an unstable test version of the browser under development – before reaching all users on 24 February.

“When AI controls become available, the Block AI Enhancements toggle will be off by default,” a Mozilla spokesperson told Bleeping Computer.

“AI controls will reflect your existing choices in Firefox. Features you have previously used will appear as enabled. Features you have previously turned off will appear as blocked. Features you have not used before will appear as available.”

The announcement comes after Mozilla Corporation’s new CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo said last December that Firefox users will always be able to turn off the browser’s AI features.

In a blog on 16 December, Enzor-DeMeo wrote: “Every product we build must give people agency in how it works. Privacy, data use and AI must be clear and understandable. Controls must be simple. AI should always be a choice”.

In 2024, Vienna-based data privacy advocacy group NOYB filed a complaint against Mozilla with the Austrian data protection authority for “quietly enabling” a feature on its Firefox browser that NOYB said tracks user behaviour without consent.

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