Mozilla recently rolled out a new on-device AI feature in Firefox, but it's already drawing complaints from users reporting high CPU usage and faster battery drain.
For the same reason that “send me your advertising” ticky-boxes on website sign-ups should not be ticked by default: because the “feature” is detrimental to many (if not most) users and you have to spot the control before you can disable it. Worse, in this case many ignorant users won’t make the connection between this misfeature and the fact that their laptop is suddenly burning through its battery in double-time—they’ll just assume Firefox is now broken.
why shouldn’t you have the option to turn things off? try turning off the ai features in chrome.
The problem is that it’s opt-out and not opt-in, and it should be opt-in.
why should it be opt in when it literally takes a second to disable?
For the same reason that “send me your advertising” ticky-boxes on website sign-ups should not be ticked by default: because the “feature” is detrimental to many (if not most) users and you have to spot the control before you can disable it. Worse, in this case many ignorant users won’t make the connection between this misfeature and the fact that their laptop is suddenly burning through its battery in double-time—they’ll just assume Firefox is now broken.