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Firefox introduces AI as experimental feature
(lemmy.fish)
A place to discuss the news and latest developments on the open-source browser Firefox
I don't understand the hate. It's just a sidebar for the supported LLMs. Maybe I'm misunderstanding?
Yes, I would prefer Mozilla focus on the browser, but to me, this seems like it was done in an afternoon.
It seems like common cynicism. Mozilla adds this feature, as not to yield major features to other browsers. Mozilla's lets you natively have lots of different AI solutions to pick from.
Not every feature is for everyone. Not every feature is done being improved on at release.
And in spite of popular opinions, organizations don't do just one thing and then do just the next thing and the thing after that. Organizations can and do focus on and prioritize many things at the same time.
And for people who are naysaying AI at every mention, it has a lot of great and fascinating uses, and if you think otherwise, you really should try them more. I've used it plenty for work and life. It's not going away, might as well do some nice things with it.
I want my browser to be a browser. I don't want Pocket, I don't want AI, I don't want bullshit. There are plugins for that.
that's the great thing: you don't have to use it
But Firefox wastes time developing that instead of fixing 20 years-old bugs.
i know it is an unpopular opinion around here. but currently AI features open doors for sales. that is important.
for the software i help develop, we introduced an optional AI integration. just its presence allowed us to sell the main SW multiple times. the AI plugin was never sold so far.
investment AI: 2 weeks of gluecode. i am not concerned with finances, but that plugin is for sure net positive.
Do users like the AI integration, or is this just something the management class wanted to see? Right now, those clothes look crazy good on that emperor...
right now we don't have any real customers that use it - as the plugin did not sell yet.
but from testing at customer sites with real people that would use it - we got only positive feedback. which is not hard to imagine: the RAG + LLM enables less experienced users to navigate a huge and complex network of information.
but it for sure is also a buzzword execs like to see: they talked to us because we have AI. saw that the main product is good. bought the main product and decided the AI is too expensive.
in the end it doesn't matter to me. the 2w of AI was a fun sidequest and it left us with a passive boost for sales.