Firefox uses on-device downloaded-on-demand ML models for privacy-preserving translation.
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@firefoxwebdevs @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet is the change to the design of the kill switch that it doesn’t exist because all of Firefox’s AI features will be moved into add-ons that aren’t installed by default?
if not, you’ve used the results of the poll to misrepresent community opinion and @davidgerard’s quote unquote “immutable position”, whatever that means to people who don’t speak passive aggressive post-it note, is absolutely correct
@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.
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@scribe I'm not sure cookies are a great source of inspiration when it comes to privacy

@firefoxwebdevs In the context of granular control they're quite good though? ie I can accept/delete them per domain as I like. I voted for the middle option as the only granular option, but granularity can be more fine-grained than that, is what I mean. And privacy is all about control over the granularity. Time-limited access tokens with very specific permissions are maybe a better analogy.
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@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 @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?
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@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 you've had multiple people call out the missing options in the poll, please don't pretend this wasn't a slanted promotional survey
if you claim this statistically bogus poll represents the will of the users, you are lying and you know you're lying
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@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?
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@davidgerard @yoasif @fmasy @Rycochet @zzt I realise your position is immutable, but I've already used the results of this survey to push for a change to the design of the kill switch. I'm grateful to everyone who responded.
@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.
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@davidgerard @mdavis @firefoxwebdevs I did not say I was personally uncomfortable with the term, because I am not personally uncomfortable with the term.
Please do not let your imagination run wild with this.
@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.
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@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.
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@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
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@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?
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@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.
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@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.
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@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?
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@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
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@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.
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@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?
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@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.
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@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.