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> The response from the Firefox community has not just been overwhelmingly negative, it is universally negative as far as I can tell. Insofar as I count as par

by lxgr 1y ago

> The response from the Firefox community has not just been overwhelmingly negative, it is universally negative as far as I can tell. Insofar as I count as part of the Firefox community as a long-time user and infrequent bug reporter: I want useful, non-creepy AI features in my main browser, or it's probably not going to remain my main browser for too long. Of course I also want them to be fully optional, but I have no reason to believe that they would be anything but.

IshKebab 1y ago
Yeah I think although he acknowledges how biased the Firefox forum poster sample is, I think he is vastly underestimating just how biased. If Firefox is reduced to just nerds who post in forums it's totally dead. Maybe it's at that point already. Tbh I still use Chrome because Firefox's performance just isn't as good. I wish it weren't so but there we go.
- lxgr 1y ago
  When have you last tried it, and what types of sites are you struggling with? Curious since I had the same concern in the past, but it's been a long time since it's been an issue. Safari still seems better on battery life on macOS, but I can't really tell a difference between Chrome and Firefox anymore.
  - IshKebab 1y ago
    No sites in particular; it's just noticeably less snappy than Chrome (on Android anyway - the difference on desktop isn't really noticeable).
    - lxgr 1y ago
      Ah, I can definitely see mobile being a different story. Google is probably pouring immense resources into performance there as it directly affects battery life, just like Apple does into Safari. I'm unfortunately on the latter platform, so I'm limited to WebKit chrome wrappers for the time being.
criticalfault 1y ago
What features? Voice control? If it is about chat, do we actually need Firefox adapted when you can go to gemini.google.com or some other one and write what you want there? Optionality is ensured since you actively have to go there.
marssaxman 1y ago
What useful, non-creepy AI features are there? I cannot imagine why one would want AI in a browser at all, but I am open to the possibility that there are applications I have not considered.
- michaelt 1y ago
  Let's say I want a 5000mAh power bank supporting 12v USB PD output and trickle charging. And it's got to be available in my country. To find such a thing I basically have to open loads of product pages cross-reference retailers' websites with manufacturers' product pages. If I could automate that process, it'd be pretty neat.
  - marssaxman 1y ago
    Thanks. I don't think I understand why that would be implemented in the browser and not as its own service, but it does sound useful.
  - dboreham 1y ago
    I just did the same thing with "very famous rock live acts performing within 500 miles of my location within the next 9 months". Whether this kind of functionality needs to be delivered via the browser I'm not sure. The LLM has to be server hosted, so may we well host the rest of it server-side, perhaps?
    - lxgr 1y ago
      Chat conversations are definitely not the peak LLM UI. They're universal and don't require app integration, which is why they're what people are currently primarily using, but I strongly suspect that that's temporary.
- PunchyHamster 1y ago
  "Hey AI rewrite this comment to sound smarter" :)
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
araes 1y ago
A relatively small variation for a client-side LLM would be something like: "suggest variations on this search that might produce better results" Had this issue the other day that I wanted to try to find a remembered example of using Ground Penetrating Radar to find hidden roads in Northern Spain and Southern France, yet for everything tried I could not get Google to actually return results that would ever focus on what it was I actually wanted. There was some GPR results, there was some about hidden structures, yet finding the actual scholarly articles discussing hidden roadways and searching under farm fields for features that reveal or point to their existence simply never returned positive. Rephrasing, changing the sentence, trying to prioritize search terms never really changed much. Doing stuff too like, "image search, pixel tree, except filter out all the pay for an image stock photo websites." Really difficult to find anything these days cause there's so much chaff of stock image websites.

by lxgr 1y ago

IshKebab 1y ago

Yeah I think although he acknowledges how biased the Firefox forum poster sample is, I think he is vastly underestimating just how biased. If Firefox is reduced to just nerds who post in forums it's totally dead. Maybe it's at that point already. Tbh I still use Chrome because Firefox's performance just isn't as good. I wish it weren't so but there we go.

lxgr 1y ago
When have you last tried it, and what types of sites are you struggling with? Curious since I had the same concern in the past, but it's been a long time since it's been an issue. Safari still seems better on battery life on macOS, but I can't really tell a difference between Chrome and Firefox anymore.
- IshKebab 1y ago
  No sites in particular; it's just noticeably less snappy than Chrome (on Android anyway - the difference on desktop isn't really noticeable).
  - lxgr 1y ago
    Ah, I can definitely see mobile being a different story. Google is probably pouring immense resources into performance there as it directly affects battery life, just like Apple does into Safari. I'm unfortunately on the latter platform, so I'm limited to WebKit chrome wrappers for the time being.

criticalfault 1y ago

What features? Voice control? If it is about chat, do we actually need Firefox adapted when you can go to gemini.google.com or some other one and write what you want there? Optionality is ensured since you actively have to go there.

marssaxman 1y ago

What useful, non-creepy AI features are there? I cannot imagine why one would want AI in a browser at all, but I am open to the possibility that there are applications I have not considered.

michaelt 1y ago
Let's say I want a 5000mAh power bank supporting 12v USB PD output and trickle charging. And it's got to be available in my country. To find such a thing I basically have to open loads of product pages cross-reference retailers' websites with manufacturers' product pages. If I could automate that process, it'd be pretty neat.
- marssaxman 1y ago
  Thanks. I don't think I understand why that would be implemented in the browser and not as its own service, but it does sound useful.
- dboreham 1y ago
  I just did the same thing with "very famous rock live acts performing within 500 miles of my location within the next 9 months". Whether this kind of functionality needs to be delivered via the browser I'm not sure. The LLM has to be server hosted, so may we well host the rest of it server-side, perhaps?
  - lxgr 1y ago
    Chat conversations are definitely not the peak LLM UI. They're universal and don't require app integration, which is why they're what people are currently primarily using, but I strongly suspect that that's temporary.
PunchyHamster 1y ago
"Hey AI rewrite this comment to sound smarter" :)
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

araes 1y ago

A relatively small variation for a client-side LLM would be something like: "suggest variations on this search that might produce better results" Had this issue the other day that I wanted to try to find a remembered example of using Ground Penetrating Radar to find hidden roads in Northern Spain and Southern France, yet for everything tried I could not get Google to actually return results that would ever focus on what it was I actually wanted. There was some GPR results, there was some about hidden structures, yet finding the actual scholarly articles discussing hidden roadways and searching under farm fields for features that reveal or point to their existence simply never returned positive. Rephrasing, changing the sentence, trying to prioritize search terms never really changed much. Doing stuff too like, "image search, pixel tree, except filter out all the pay for an image stock photo websites." Really difficult to find anything these days cause there's so much chaff of stock image websites.