How to disable AI features in firefox 148 at system wide level?

Questions
1

i have my own firefox.cfg located at /usr/lib/firefox/ i’m trying to disable ai features by defaults by adding those values

pref(“browser.ai.control.default”, blocked);
pref(“browser.ai.control.linkPreviewKeyPoints”, blocked);
pref(“browser.ai.control.pdfjsAltText”, blocked);
pref(“browser.ai.control.sidebarChatbot”, blocked);
pref(“browser.ai.control.smartTabGroups”, blocked);
pref(“browser.ai.control.translations”, blocked);

but that doesn’t work the browser start but without every pref i put

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2

Not sure what exactly you mean but can’t you simply use the toggle they provide in the settings now?

4 Likes
3

Have you confirmed that it’s working for other settings set in your .cfg file?

If so, and if it’s just the browser.ai.control settings that aren’t working, the first thing I would try is using lockPref[1] instead of just pref [2] and see if that fixes the issue.

If that doesn’t work, my next guess is that because it’s a just released feature (that almost certainly had it’s release date pushed up to address popular demand), they may not have implemented these settings as config/policy based settings yet. I’m not sure if I’m correctly interpreting this open bugzilla issue, but it sounds like that may be what it’s referring to. You may need to wait until a future release, to manage these settings via cfg.

  1. lockPref(prefName, value) – sets the default value of a preference and locks it. This is the most commonly used function. Locking a preference prevents a user from changing it, and in most cases, disables the UI in preferences so it is obvious to the user that the preference has been disabled**. ↩︎

  2. pref(prefName, value)– sets the user value of a preference. This function explicitly sets the preference as a user preference. That means that if the user has changed the value, it will get reset every time the browser is started. ↩︎

2 Likes
4

Linux installation

– Open the configuration file and save it (Ctrl+S) anywhere on your computer. Make sure the file is called “policies.json” (without the quotes).
– Open a new Terminal window in the directory where the file is located. For example, if it’s in your Downloads folder, open a Terminal and run cd ~/Downloads to switch to the Downloads directory.
– Create the Firefox policies directory with this command: sudo mkdir -p /etc/firefox/policies/
– Copy the file to the new folder: sudo cp ./policies.json /etc/firefox/policies/
– Restart Firefox.

To remove the custom configuration, delete the policies.json file from the distribution folder and restart Firefox. You can do that in the Terminal: sudo rm /etc/firefox/policies/policies.json

Or just /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/corbindavenport/just-the-browser/main/main.sh)"

Or my radical one (just copy/paste):

Commands 
sudo mkdir -p /etc/firefox/policies
sudo tee /etc/firefox/policies/policies.json << 'EOF'
{
  "policies": {
    "DisableTelemetry": true,
    "DisableFirefoxStudies": true,
    "DisableFirefoxAccounts": true,
    "DisablePocket": true,
    "DisableFirefoxScreenshots": true,
    "DisableFormHistory": true,
    "DisableProfileImport": true,
    "NoDefaultBookmarks": true,
    "OverrideFirstRunPage": "",
    "OverridePostUpdatePage": "",
    "DisableRemoteImprovements": true,
    "DisableSystemAddonUpdate": true,

    "EnableTrackingProtection": {
      "Value": true,
      "Locked": true,
      "Cryptomining": true,
      "Fingerprinting": true,
      "EmailTracking": true,
      "SuspectedFingerprinting": true,
      "Category": "strict"
    },

    "DNSOverHTTPS": {
      "Enabled": true,
      "ProviderURL": "https://root.hagezi.org/dns-query",
      "Locked": true,
      "Fallback": false
    },

    "SearchEngines": {
      "Default": "DuckDuckGo",
      "Remove": ["Google", "Bing", "Amazon.com", "eBay"],
      "PreventInstalls": true
    },
    "SearchSuggestEnabled": false,

    "NetworkPrediction": false,
    "HttpsOnlyMode": "force_enabled",

    "OfferToSaveLogins": false,
    "PasswordManagerEnabled": false,

    "FirefoxHome": {
      "Search": true,
      "TopSites": true,
      "SponsoredTopSites": false,
      "Highlights": false,
      "Pocket": false,
      "SponsoredPocket": false,
      "Snippets": false,
      "Locked": true
    },

    "FirefoxSuggest": {
      "WebSuggestions": false,
      "SponsoredSuggestions": false,
      "ImproveSuggest": false,
      "Locked": true
    },

    "UserMessaging": {
      "ExtensionRecommendations": false,
      "FeatureRecommendations": false,
      "UrlbarInterventions": false,
      "MoreFromMozilla": false,
      "FirefoxLabs": false,
      "Locked": true
    },

    "GenerativeAI": {
      "Enabled": false,
      "Locked": true
    },

    "TranslateEnabled": true,

    "ExtensionSettings": {
      "*": {"installation_mode": "allowed"},
      "uBlock0@raymondhill.net": {
        "installation_mode": "force_installed",
        "install_url": "https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/latest/ublock-origin/latest.xpi"
      }
    },

    "Preferences": {
      "network.dns.disablePrefetch": {"Value": true, "Status": "locked"},
      "browser.send_pings": {"Value": false, "Status": "locked"},
      "beacon.enabled": {"Value": false, "Status": "locked"}
    }
  }
}
EOF
3 Likes
5

2 posts were split to a new topic: Privacy/Security Risks of Firefox AI Features?

6

The preferences are most likely using Boolean values, so replace all instances of blocked text with false text instead:

pref(“browser.ai.control.default”, false);
pref(“browser.ai.control.linkPreviewKeyPoints”, false);
pref(“browser.ai.control.pdfjsAltText”, false);
pref(“browser.ai.control.sidebarChatbot”, false);
pref(“browser.ai.control.smartTabGroups”, false);
pref(“browser.ai.control.translations”, false);
1 Like
7

i can but i think it’s better to disable AI at system level because a update in the future could re-enable them if you put a user.js in home directory (this is what i ithink). we don’t know yet what AI in browser is capable of

i tried to add those values it doesn’t work as soon i put the value firefox ignore my firefox.cfg and start without my pref i also tried to use “user_pref” in the firefox.cfg but that doesn’t work either

i tested lockPref it doesn’t work either look like it’s impossible now to disable AI by using firefox.cfg :sweat_smile:

yes i deleted the AI value and my firefox.cfg was working as excepted but when you add the AI value it doesn’t work anymore

well look like i have to switch to a another browser until they allow us to remove AI in firefox.cfg

1 Like
8

I see. It was not clear to be that you were using Arkenfox.

1 Like
9

How did you install Firefox? It seems like you are trying to use the autoconfig feature but are not declaring what file should be used.

1 Like
10

Doesn’t setting

browser.ml.enable

to false do the trick?

1 Like
11

Okay, we can try a simple workaround using a user.js file instead:

user_pref(“browser.ai.control.default”, false);
user_pref(“browser.ai.control.linkPreviewKeyPoints”, false);
user_pref(“browser.ai.control.pdfjsAltText”, false);
user_pref(“browser.ai.control.sidebarChatbot”, false);
user_pref(“browser.ai.control.smartTabGroups”, false);
user_pref(“browser.ai.control.translations”, false);

Place this file in the root directory of the Firefox profile you want it applied to. You can learn about your Firefox profiles by accessing about:profiles in the address bar.

12

It should be blocked not false.

Edit:

Available (default): UI is visible but requires confirmation. If the
user confirms in the feature the state will move to Enabled.

Enabled (opt-in): UI is visible, the feature can run, models will
download on use as needed.

Blocked: UI is hidden, downloaded models will be removed when moving to
this state.

2 Likes
13

Okay, thank you for the correction. I am using Firefox ESR, so I do not have to think about any of these preferences until the ESR 153 branch on July 21st.

14

Maybe (or maybe not). What is it that you are trying to disable?

Afaik, it’s been possible to disable any of the AI features since they were introduced. The AI “killswitch” as I understand it is just a more convenient way for people to easily control AI settings from the GUI all in once place, and/or all with one single master toggle.

But if you are already using one of Firefox’s advanced configuration methods, it has already long been possible to disable the current AI features. I think the settings below will handle all of the existing features that the new AI GUI settings panel covers:

settings to disable AI chat in sidebar & context menus

browser.ml.chat.enabled
browser.ml.chat.menu

settings to disable AI link previews

browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled

settings to disable smart tab groups

browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled
browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled

settings to disable on-device private translation

browser.translations.enable

settings to disable auto-generated alt text for images

pdfjs.enableAltText

settings to disable the API that allows extensions to use the browser for AI features

extensions.ml.enabled

I’m not sure what this setting currently does, possibly a placeholder for future use?

browser.ml.enable

Just to be clear, I don’t personally think that force-disabling these features improves privacy, just trying to provide helpful info for your goal of eliminating all AI features.

1 Like
15 
pref("browser.ai.control.default", "blocked");
pref("browser.ai.control.linkPreviewKeyPoints", "blocked");
pref("browser.ai.control.pdfjsAltText", "blocked");
pref("browser.ai.control.sidebarChatbot", "blocked");
pref("browser.ai.control.smartTabGroups", "blocked");
pref("browser.ai.control.translations", "blocked");

Also, for firefox.cfg to work, you need autoconfig.js, and firefox.cfg should always begin with a commented line.

3 Likes
16

thanks you sir :slight_smile: it worked like a charm this was the solution and thanks to everyone in the post who try to help !

1 Like