Firefox’s New AI "Kill Switch": How to Block All Generative Features for Good

Mozilla’s AI Kill Switch: The Privacy Alternative to AI Browsers
February 3, 2026

Firefox Will Soon Let You Block All of Its Generative AI Features

Every major browser on the planet is in a mad rush to stuff generative AI into your face. Google bakes Gemini deeper into Chrome with every update. Microsoft practically built Edge around Copilot. Opera, Arc, and even brand-new entrants like Perplexity's Comet browser are betting their entire future on AI being front and center the moment you open a new tab. So what does Firefox do? It builds you a door to walk right out.

On February 2, 2026, Mozilla officially announced that Firefox will soon let you block all of its generative AI features. Every single one. With a single toggle. No buried settings. No wrestling with about:config. Just one clean switch that says "no AI, thanks," and Firefox respects it. That's it. That's the story. And it's a bigger deal than it sounds.

This isn't just a minor UI tweak buried in a patch note. It's a deliberate, public statement from a browser company about who actually owns your experience. Firefox 148 rolls out on February 24, 2026, and with it you'll have what amounts to a Firefox AI kill switch right inside your desktop browser settings. No pop-ups nudging you to try AI. No reminders. No quiet background features you never asked for. Just a browser that does what you tell it to do.

The Quick Version: Firefox 148 (Feb. 24, 2026) introduces a new "AI Controls" section in desktop settings. A master toggle called "Block AI enhancements" shuts off all current and future generative AI features in one move. You can also manage each AI feature individually if you prefer a more selective approach.

What's Actually Changing in Firefox? The Firefox AI Controls Explained

Let's get specific. Mozilla isn't vaguely promising "more user choice." They're shipping a concrete feature with a concrete release date. Firefox 148 drops on February 24, 2026, and it comes with a brand-new section in your desktop browser settings called AI Controls. Think of it as a single dashboard where every AI-related decision lives in one place.

The centerpiece of this dashboard is a toggle labeled "Block AI enhancements." Flip it on, and Firefox cuts off all generative AI features. Not just the ones available today, but any new AI features Mozilla adds down the road. That's a meaningful promise. It means you won't need to hunt down and disable new AI tools every time Firefox ships an update. Your preference sticks. It persists automatically across future versions of the browser without you having to do a thing.

If you're not someone who wants to nuke everything, that's fine too. The same AI Controls section lets you manage features one by one. Want translations but not chatbots? Done. Love the tab grouping feature but find link previews annoying? Also done. Firefox AI controls settings give you genuine granularity. It's not just an on/off switch, but a real menu of choices.

One thing worth noting: this is a desktop feature at launch. Mozilla hasn't announced a mobile equivalent just yet. If you're primarily a Firefox-on-your-phone person, keep an eye on future updates.

Which Generative AI Features Can You Block in Firefox?

Before you can decide what to turn off, it helps to know what's actually there. At launch, Firefox's AI Controls let you manage five distinct AI-powered features. Here's what each one does and why some people might want to keep it while others won't.

The Five AI Features Available at Launch

  • Translations: Detects when you're reading a page in a language other than your preferred one and offers to translate it on the fly. This one runs on-device, meaning your text doesn't get shipped off to a remote server. A lot of privacy-minded users actually like this feature.
  • Alt text in PDFs: Automatically generates accessibility descriptions for images inside PDF documents. Useful if you're reading dense reports or academic papers with charts and figures. Screen reader users in particular benefit here.
  • AI-enhanced tab grouping: Firefox watches your open tabs and suggests groupings based on what's related. It even proposes names for those groups. If you habitually juggle dozens of tabs, this one can genuinely save you time.
  • Link previews: Before you click a link, Firefox can show you a short summary of what's on the other side. Think of it as a sniff test for whether a page is worth your time.
  • AI chatbot in the sidebar: This one pulls up a chatbot of your choosing. Pick from Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, or Le Chat by Mistral. It all runs directly inside the Firefox sidebar. No new window, no new tab. Just a conversation panel right next to whatever you're reading.

Block Everything or Pick and Choose

Here's where it gets interesting. The "Block AI enhancements" toggle is an all-or-nothing switch. Turn it on, and every single one of these features disappears. No pop-ups asking you to try them. No subtle nudges. Nothing. But if you only want to stop Firefox AI pop-ups for certain features while keeping others active, you don't need the master toggle. You can just go into AI Controls and flip individual features on or off. It's a genuinely flexible system, and that kind of granularity is rare in a browser.

How to Disable Firefox Generative AI: Step by Step

You don't need to be a developer or a power user to do this. The whole point of Firefox AI controls settings is that they're accessible to everyone. Here's exactly how to disable Firefox generative AI features once Firefox 148 is installed.

Step 1: Open Firefox 148 or later. Make sure you've updated to the latest version. If you're not sure, go to the menu (☰) and click "Help" → "About Firefox." It'll check for updates automatically.

Step 2: Head to Settings. Click the hamburger menu (☰) in the top-right corner of the browser, then select "Settings" from the dropdown.

Step 3: Find the AI Controls section. Scroll down through your settings page. You'll see a dedicated "AI Controls" section. It's its own block, clearly labeled. You can't miss it.

Step 4: Toggle "Block AI enhancements" ON. This is your master switch. Flip it, and all generative AI features in Firefox switch off in one move. Done.

Step 5 (Optional): Manage features individually. If you'd rather keep some AI features and cut others, skip the master toggle. Instead, scroll through the individual feature toggles and switch off only the ones you don't want.

Want to try this before February 24? You can. Firefox Nightly is Mozilla's bleeding-edge test build, and it will have AI Controls available first. It's free to download, and it's the same browser, just with features that haven't been officially released yet. Mozilla is also actively asking for feedback on Mozilla Connect if you want your voice heard during development.

Why Is Mozilla Doing This? The Story Behind the Firefox AI Kill Switch

This feature didn't just appear out of nowhere. It's the result of a deliberate strategic pivot that's been building since late 2025. A new CEO, a community that spoke up, and a foundation with a very specific vision for where AI is headed all played a role.

A New CEO With a Clear Position

In December 2025, Mozilla appointed Anthony Enzor-DeMeo as CEO of Mozilla Corporation. He wasn't a stranger to the company. He'd been serving as General Manager of Firefox, so he knew the product inside and out. But his very first public statement as CEO set a tone that surprised a lot of people in the tech world.

Writing on the Mozilla Blog, Enzor-DeMeo made one thing unmistakably clear: AI should always be a choice, something people can easily turn off. He didn't bury that line. He put it front and center. He followed it up by saying people deserve to understand what a feature does, why it works the way it does, and what value it actually delivers. If it doesn't deliver, they should be able to walk away from it entirely. That's a rare commitment from any tech CEO in 2026. Most companies are racing to make AI stickier. Enzor-DeMeo is making it easier to leave.

His broader ambition is to turn Mozilla into what he called "the world's most trusted software company." That's not marketing fluff. It's a strategic direction that shapes every product decision Firefox makes going forward, including this one.

They Actually Listened to Their Users

Here's something refreshing: Mozilla didn't just guess what users wanted. They listened. The company openly acknowledged hearing from people who want nothing to do with AI, alongside others who genuinely find AI tools useful. That honest acknowledgment is the reason the AI Controls feature exists at all. Not everyone feels the same way about AI, and Mozilla finally said so out loud.

Ajit Varma, head of Firefox, put it plainly when announcing the feature. The new controls give you "a single place to block current and future generative AI features in Firefox," while still letting Mozilla continue developing AI tools for the users who want them. It's a both/and solution, not an either/or.

The Bigger Picture: Mozilla's "Rebel Alliance"

The Firefox AI kill switch is just one piece of a much larger bet Mozilla is making. Mark Surman, president of the Mozilla Foundation, is deploying roughly $1.4 billion in reserves to support mission-driven organizations working on AI safety and governance. He's called this effort a "rebel alliance." It's a loose coalition of startups, developers, and public-interest technologists building alternatives to the closed, platform-controlled AI systems that dominate the industry right now.

Mozilla expects to spend about $650 million across its portfolio in 2026. Around 80 percent goes toward maintaining and growing its core products: Firefox and Thunderbird. The remaining 20 percent is directed at trustworthy, open-source AI efforts. That includes Mozilla Ventures, which has invested in more than 55 companies to date, including dozens of AI startups. Mozilla also launched Mozilla.ai in 2023, an internal organization focused on creating open-source alternatives to closed AI platforms.

Surman knows the math isn't in his favor. OpenAI has raised over $60 billion and Anthropic has secured over $30 billion. Mozilla has $1.4 billion and no debt. It's not trying to outspend Silicon Valley. Instead, it's trying to identify weak spots in the current market, specifically concerns around transparency, safety, and long-term sustainability, and support smaller teams willing to take a different approach.

Firefox vs. Chrome vs. Edge: Who Actually Lets You Block AI?

Context matters here. Firefox didn't build AI Controls in a vacuum. It built them because every other major browser is doing the exact opposite. They're baking AI deeper and deeper in, with little to no way to pull it back out. Here's how the landscape actually looks right now.

Browser AI Features & Privacy Controls

An interactive comparison of built-in AI enhancements across major web browsers in 2024–2025, including global AI off-switch availability.

Key Insights: Browser AI & Privacy in 2025

Firefox 148+ stands out as the only major browser to offer a global "Block AI enhancements" toggle, giving users a single switch to disable all built-in AI features — a significant advantage for privacy-conscious users concerned about on-device and cloud AI processing in browsers.

Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge have aggressively integrated AI into their core workflows — Gemini integration, Copilot sidebars, AI Overviews, writing assist, and shopping insights — yet neither provides a unified AI off-switch, requiring users to disable features individually across scattered settings pages.

Safari leverages Apple Intelligence for on-device summaries on macOS and iOS, but its privacy controls remain limited to per-feature toggles, leaving a gap between Apple's privacy-first marketing and granular AI governance.

As AI becomes embedded deeper into everyday browsing, the presence or absence of a centralized AI privacy control is becoming a key differentiator when choosing a web browser.

See the pattern? Chrome and Edge have AI everywhere, but neither one gives you a single button to turn it all off. Firefox is the only mainstream browser with meaningful global market presence that's offering a true, comprehensive AI block. That's not a small thing. It's a competitive differentiator that positions Firefox as the go-to choice for anyone uncomfortable with how aggressively AI is being pushed into their daily browsing.

Why Do People Actually Want to Block AI in Their Browser?

It's worth pausing here, because the assumption in Silicon Valley is that more AI is always better. Anyone who opts out is either confused or behind the times, or so the thinking goes. That assumption is wrong. There are plenty of smart, informed reasons someone might want to block Firefox AI enhancements or disable generative AI across their browser entirely.

Privacy is the big one. AI features, especially chatbots and link previews, often send data to third-party servers to generate their responses. Even if you trust Firefox, you might not trust every AI model it connects to. For people who already use Firefox specifically because of its privacy stance, adding AI that phones home to external services can feel like a betrayal of the whole point.

Performance matters too. AI features consume memory and processing power. On older machines or laptops running on battery, that overhead is real and noticeable. Not everyone wants their browser burning extra cycles on features they never asked for.

Trust is still a work in progress. Privacy-conscious users who have been concerned about AI data collection and processing particularly benefit from the comprehensive blocking option. And that's a growing crowd. Public polling consistently shows that more Americans feel uneasy about AI than excited by it. Wanting to keep AI out of your browser isn't paranoia. It's a reasonable response to a technology that's still proving itself.

Professional and institutional needs are real. Schools, hospitals, law firms, and government agencies often operate under strict data policies. Enterprise users who deploy Firefox across organizational networks will need to review their browser policies and potentially update their configuration management systems to account for the new AI settings. For these environments, a clean, auditable browser without surprise AI features isn't a preference. It's a requirement.

Important Limitations You Should Know About

The Firefox AI kill switch is powerful, but it's not magic. There are boundaries to what it can and can't do, and being upfront about those boundaries is important if you're counting on this feature to keep AI completely out of your browsing life.

It only controls Firefox's own AI features. The "Block AI enhancements" toggle governs the five features built into Firefox itself. It does not, and cannot, stop AI from running on third-party websites you visit. If Google's homepage serves you AI Overviews, or a news site uses an AI-generated summary, Firefox's toggle won't touch that. That's happening at the website level, not the browser level.

Browser extensions are outside its scope. If you've installed an extension that adds AI capabilities, like a writing assistant or an AI summarizer, the AI Controls toggle won't affect it. Extensions run their own code independently of Firefox's built-in features.

Operating system AI is a separate layer entirely. Apple Intelligence on macOS and Windows Copilot features on Windows 11 are baked into your operating system, not your browser. Firefox can't reach them, and it doesn't try to.

The scope of "future generative AI features" covered by the master toggle is also somewhat undefined. Mozilla has not yet clarified whether this covers all forms of machine learning or specifically targets generative AI technologies, potentially leaving room for other AI implementations that might not fall under the blocking mechanism. That's something worth watching as Firefox evolves.

What Does This Mean for the Future of AI in Browsers?

Firefox holds somewhere around 3–4% of the global browser market. It's not Chrome. It's not even close. So the obvious question is: does a move like this actually matter at scale? Can Firefox change how the rest of the industry behaves?

The honest answer is: maybe, but not through market share alone. Firefox's real leverage has always been cultural. It set the standard for browser extensions. It pushed the industry toward better privacy defaults. It proved that an open-source browser could survive against a trillion-dollar company's product. Surman believes Mozilla can "do for AI what we did for the web." That's ambitious, but it's grounded in a track record.

Mozilla's approach is a direct response to growing concerns around AI privacy, user consent, and the increasing opacity of AI-enabled software. While many competing browsers have begun integrating generative AI features, often without granular opt-outs, Mozilla is attempting to carve out a distinct position by building AI "with consent baked in." If that philosophy resonates with enough users, and early signs suggest it does, it creates pressure on Chrome and Edge to at least offer comparable controls, even if they never make them as prominent.

The browser wars of 2026 aren't about rendering speed or tab performance. They're about trust. About who controls the relationship between you and the AI that's increasingly woven into everything you do online. Firefox just made a very loud, very clear statement about where it stands on that question.

The Bottom Line

Firefox 148 arrives on February 24, 2026, and with it comes something no other mainstream browser is offering: a genuine, comprehensive way to block all generative AI features, current and future, with a single toggle. No tricks. No fine print. Just a browser that respects your choice.

Whether you're someone who finds AI genuinely useful and wants to keep using it, or someone who'd rather Firefox just be a browser and nothing more, the new AI Controls section has you covered. It's a rare example of a tech company building a feature not because it benefits their product metrics, but because their users asked for it and deserved an honest answer.

If you want to try it before the official launch, Firefox Nightly has AI Controls available now. Give it a spin. And if you have thoughts, good or bad, Mozilla Connect is where they're listening.

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