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Firefox Will Ship with an “AI Kill Switch” to Completely Disable all AI Features
https://9to5linux.com/firefox-will-ship-with-an-ai-kill-switch-to-completely-disable-all-ai-features [9to5linux.com]
Mozilla said that all the AI features that are or will be included in Firefox will also be opt-in.
After the controversial news [mozilla.org] shared earlier this week by Mozilla’s new CEO that Firefox [9to5linux.com] will evolve into “a modern AI browser,” the company now revealed it is working on an AI kill switch for the open-source web browser.
On Tuesday, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo was named the new CEO of Mozilla Corporation, the company behind the beloved Firefox web browser used by almost all GNU/Linux distributions as the default browser.
In his message as new CEO, Anthony Enzor-DeMeo stated that Firefox will grow from a browser into a broader ecosystem of trusted software while remaining the company’s anchor, and that Firefox will evolve into a modern AI browser and support a portfolio of new and trusted software additions.
What was not made clear is that Firefox will also ship with an AI kill switch that will let users completely disable all the AI features that are included in Firefox. Mozilla shared this important update earlier today to make it clear to everyone that Firefox will still be a trusted web browser.
“Something that hasn’t been made clear: Firefox will have an option to completely disable all AI features. We’ve been calling it the AI kill switch internally. I’m sure it’ll ship with a less murderous name, but that’s how seriously and absolutely we’re taking this,” said Firefox developer Jake Archibald on Mastodon [mastodon.social].
In addition, Mozilla said that all the AI features that are or will be included in Firefox will also be opt-in. “I think there are some grey areas in what ‘opt-in’ means to different people (e.g. is a new toolbar button opt-in?), but the kill switch will absolutely remove all that stuff, and never show it in future. That’s unambiguous.“
Personally, I do hope Firefox will remain the same web browser I’ve been using for the past 20 years. As long as AI remains opt-in and it’s not shoved down our throats, I have no problem with that. The upcoming release, Firefox 147 [9to5linux.com], is expected on January 13th, 2026, with support for the XDG Base Directory Specification.
