Firefox uses on-device downloaded-on-demand ML models for privacy-preserving translation.
-
@firefoxwebdevs @davidgerard @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @zzt
I didn’t see the poll before this post, but my number one request to Mozilla remains the same:
Stop using the term ‘AI’ anywhere.
It is a meaningless marketing term pushed by the worst parts of the tech industry. Don’t use a catch all for a bunch of unrelated things, name them individually and explain to users why they should care (if you can’t, don’t ship them at all). And make all of them off by default.
Feel free to pop up a dialog saying ‘This page is in a language that you haven’t said you speak, Firefox has optional on-device translation models trained ethically (see here for more information)k would you like to install them? (If you decide not to, you can change this decision later in settings) [ Never install translation models ] [ Never install translation models for this language ] [ Install translation model for this language ] [ Automatically install translation models for any language ]’.
Similarly, if a user hovers over an image with no alt text, feel free to pop up a dialog saying ‘This image has no text description. Firefox has an on-device image-recognition model that is ethically trained (see here for more information) that can attempt to provide one automatically. Would you like to install it? If you do not, you can later install it from settings. [ Do not install image-recognition model ] [ Install image-recognition model ]’.
And, in both of these cases, pop up that dialog at most once.
See how neither of these needed to say ‘AI’? Because they were explaining what the model did and why. This is how you communicate with users if you care about users more than you care about investors and hype trains.
@david_chisnall @davidgerard @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @zzt I agree that the term 'AI' is kinda meaningless, and it results in the ambiguities mentioned in the poll. However, people are asking for 'no AI' or a way to disable 'AI'. Even tech folks.
-
@jaffathecake @davidgerard @mdavis@mastodon.social @firefoxwebdevs this is a real weird hill for you to die on
if you’re representing your employer and they’re uncomfortable with the kill switch naming, to the point where you keep encasing the term in scare quotes every time it’s used, then we can’t tell and frankly don’t care if you personally love the term. nobody’s here for Jake. do you understand that? we’re here because we’re dedicated Firefox users angry at the direction your employer has taken.
@zzt @jaffathecake @firefoxwebdevs this account will be shut down by the incoming AI CMO anyway as unauthorised marketing
-
@firefoxwebdevs @zzt @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @davidgerard you do realise that social media polls should not be used as an input for any serious actions because they're inherently flawed, yes?
-
@davidgerard @firefoxwebdevs @zzt @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet fwiw i'm still waiting for the dude to tell me why should i start trusting mozilla to do the right thing now.
-
-
@jaffathecake @davidgerard @mdavis@mastodon.social @firefoxwebdevs this is a real weird hill for you to die on
if you’re representing your employer and they’re uncomfortable with the kill switch naming, to the point where you keep encasing the term in scare quotes every time it’s used, then we can’t tell and frankly don’t care if you personally love the term. nobody’s here for Jake. do you understand that? we’re here because we’re dedicated Firefox users angry at the direction your employer has taken.
@zzt @davidgerard @firefoxwebdevs "note that Jake, in presenting the kill switch and calling it a kill switch and getting it into all the papers as a kill switch, says he's uncomfortable with the name" - I was called out by name directly and deliberately.
-
@zzt @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @davidgerard My interpretation of the poll results is that the vast majority of people feel that the translation engine should be disabled as part of an AI kill switch, but there should be a way to re-enable the translation engine whilst leaving the kill switch otherwise active.
@firefoxwebdevs @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @davidgerard is there a reason why you’ve chosen to ignore the substance of the post you’re replying to?
-
@zzt @davidgerard @firefoxwebdevs "note that Jake, in presenting the kill switch and calling it a kill switch and getting it into all the papers as a kill switch, says he's uncomfortable with the name" - I was called out by name directly and deliberately.
@jaffathecake @zzt @firefoxwebdevs i'm sure you'll reveal the culprit who hacked the account and posted it forthwith
-
@zzt @davidgerard @firefoxwebdevs "note that Jake, in presenting the kill switch and calling it a kill switch and getting it into all the papers as a kill switch, says he's uncomfortable with the name" - I was called out by name directly and deliberately.
@jaffathecake @davidgerard @firefoxwebdevs yes Jake, because you’re professionally representing your employer when writing under a supposedly official account.
-
@firefoxwebdevs @zzt @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @davidgerard it doesn't matter and the results don't matter either. do you know why? do you know what properties a poll needs in order to be meaningful?
-
@jaffathecake @zzt @firefoxwebdevs i'm sure you'll reveal the culprit who hacked the account and posted it forthwith
@davidgerard @zzt @firefoxwebdevs It's telling that you can't admit that you (deliberately?) misrepresented me to stir outrage.
-
@zzt @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @davidgerard My interpretation of the poll results is that the vast majority of people feel that the translation engine should be disabled as part of an AI kill switch, but there should be a way to re-enable the translation engine whilst leaving the kill switch otherwise active.
@firefoxwebdevs @zzt @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet Have a general "AI disable button" with sub categories for people who want only some things.
It's already like that in the search configuration page.
What's as important imo is to have an introduction/pedagogical page to changes made where options like this are introduced when updates are done where people can enable/disable them.
I know it's like only 10% of any users who read, but it will satisfy most more skilled people, and it might bring knowledge to some people. -
@jaffathecake @davidgerard @firefoxwebdevs yes Jake, because you’re professionally representing your employer when writing under a supposedly official account.
@zzt @davidgerard @firefoxwebdevs and I didn't say I'm uncomfortable with the name, which is the claim that was put directly to me. I think it's reasonable to push back against that false claim.
-
@david_chisnall @davidgerard @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @zzt I agree that the term 'AI' is kinda meaningless, and it results in the ambiguities mentioned in the poll. However, people are asking for 'no AI' or a way to disable 'AI'. Even tech folks.
@firefoxwebdevs @davidgerard @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @zzt
Which is happening because you are shipping feature that you call AI and your new CEO has called Firefox an ‘AI first browser’, because he is completely and totally unqualified for his job.
Stop doing that. And then you can have a useful discussion about any ML models that you are shipping (which, I agree, should be plugins, but so should a lot of things Firefox bundles).
-
@m0rpk @firefoxwebdevs what exactly is bad about not delivering functionality that benefits basically everyone (my English, I claim, is fine, but I can't read a word of Japanese and Spanish is mostly guesswork; most humans read no more than 3 languages)? How exactly does it detract from Firefox being an enabler of the Open Web that they do, by default, enable the Open Web crosslingually?
@funkylab Frankly, because they very obviously need to put the effort into improving the core browser. By all means, they can prompt for a plug-in on installation, there are many around, and they are part of the Open Web rather than something you get plumbed in as if it were some piece of Microsoft bloatware. If they don't fix the browser, the whole concept of the Open Web becomes moot. @m0rpk @firefoxwebdevs
-
@davidgerard @zzt @firefoxwebdevs It's telling that you can't admit that you (deliberately?) misrepresented me to stir outrage.
@jaffathecake @davidgerard @firefoxwebdevs it’s telling that you can’t admit that you deliberately misrepresented community consensus to push horseshit into the browser I use
-
@firefoxwebdevs @mawhrin @zzt @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @davidgerard
Voting in that poll legitimises a kill switch as a viable solution. Hence the flood of responses from people who don't want to say "yes" or "no" about how a thing they don't want works.
-
@davidgerard @zzt @firefoxwebdevs It's telling that you can't admit that you (deliberately?) misrepresented me to stir outrage.
@jaffathecake @zzt @firefoxwebdevs your outrage is entirely performative and I don't believe you
-
@firefoxwebdevs This is insulting.
-
Firefox uses on-device downloaded-on-demand ML models for privacy-preserving translation.
They're not LLMs. They're trained on open data.
Should translation be disabled if the AI 'kill switch' is active?
@firefoxwebdevs How about "don't put pointless AI bullshit into your browser in the first place so you don't have to ask asinine loaded questions like this to try to con people into not turning all that shit off.
