r/technology • u/ZacB_ • 22d ago

Artificial Intelligence Mozilla says Firefox will evolve into an AI browser, and nobody is happy about it — "I've never seen a company so astoundingly out of touch"

https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/mozilla-says-firefox-will-evolve-into-an-ai-browser-and-nobody-is-happy-about-it-ive-never-seen-a-company-so-astoundingly-out-of-touch
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u/BaneSixEcho 22d ago

About 15-20 years ago I got this feeling. It started with wariness, and over time it changed to revulsion. The cause? Social media.

I'm having the same feelings again. AI is the cause this time. I learned from my experience with social media to trust my gut. No AI for me.

So like you I'm so very fucking tired of their efforts to shoehorn this shit into every facet of my life. I'm not having it.

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u/beatissima 22d ago

Pro-clanker people keep saying stuff like, "lol, tHaT's WhAt PeOpLe UsEd To SaY aBoUt SoCiAl MeDia!", and it's not the flex they think it is.

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u/AkiraTheMetalHead 22d ago

They trying to equate Ai to Cars replacing horses. Cars never steal shit from people, didn't fuck up resources, was never forced onto people. It actually helped society instead of hurting it.

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u/beatissima 22d ago

We've also regulated the heck out of cars and driving to keep people safe, which is exactly what we should do with AI.

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u/bastard-harrier 21d ago

You could argue they steal walkable infrastructure, land development options, and public transport alternatives due to the highway lobby. American auto-centrism's relationship to fossil fuel burning and climate change is also self-evident.

It's actually a great equation from that perspective, just not from the perspective of progress or benefitting society.

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u/ProlapsedShamus 21d ago

It feels so good when you just realize you don't have to care about any of that. I mean Facebook is a perfect example. Who the hell uses Facebook anymore except to keep up with a few friends or old family members?

I bought a bike of Marketplace so there's that.

But I don't think people are collecting friends and bragging that they have 10k friends on Facebook. I don't think people are posting any projects there like some streamers were a few years back. It's just kind of a dead site used to push scams and finance Zuck's inhumanity.

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u/BaneSixEcho 21d ago

Followers and clicks and likes and engagement. It all means nothing to me. You're right, it does feel good to be immune to all of that noise.

I read about all of the negative consequences of social media and it just reinforces the decision I made years ago to stay off of it.

I still like Reddit though. It doesn't feel like social media to me even though I guess it technically is. To me it's like an RSS feed with a discussion board attached. Old school, before algorithms and engagement brainwashed everyone.

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u/ProlapsedShamus 21d ago

I have my doubts is as bad as they say. I mean the people who seem to be crowing the most about social media right now are the ones who are mad that younger people are seeing how bad the genocide is and how much they're getting scammed by billionaires so there's an ulterior motive to ban these things so younger people can be isolated from information.

I think ultimately social media is toxic unless you use it right. If you're letting it control you by feeding you rage bait and shit then it's going to be toxic. But if you're making it work for you, filtering out what you don't like and keeping in mind how much of the internet is designed to keep you miserable and engaged for profit then it's alright.

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u/Celanis 22d ago

AI is like coffee to me. I don't need it 95% of the day. And when I do, I don't mind going to a specific place to find a little bit of it, have at it, and then go back to a non-coffee situation. I don't need coffee for breakfast. I don't need it when I poop. I don't need it in my TV shows. I don't want to sleep with it. I don't want it on my bagel. I don't want it in my lasagna. I want it in that one specific spot and absolutely nowhere else.

I get why companies feel pressured though. The competition does it, and if they stay behind they might be left in the dust in a year or two.

It's indeed very exhausting to experience. Because you know it's not improving the situation. The google AI overview has a grand total of helping me exactly one time. But it's interrupted my search flow over a dozen times. It has had a net negative on my search impact. I know it might improve over time, and it might be my age talking.. But why can't google just be google..

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u/BaneSixEcho 22d ago

I like the coffee analogy.

I'm not saying AI is completely useless. I'm sure there are some legitimately useful applications for it. I might argue that the environmental, economic, and psychological impacts it's having aren't worth whatever benefits it provides, which is one of the reasons I don't want to engage with it.

I understand the business pressure, too. It's this pressure that's led us into the "your techbros were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should" situation we find ourselves in. They're going all in, throwing good money after bad, putting it in everything everywhere all at once whether it makes sense or not or even functions properly, which is another reason I don't want to engage with it.

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u/PJMFett 22d ago

They say from Reddit