81
submitted 18 hours ago by omgubuntu@floss.social to c/firefox@fedia.io

Firefox users report high CPU and memory usage in the latest release, caused by browser's on-device AI inferencing for its 'smart tab grouping' feature.

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/08/firefox-high-cpu-usage-inference-disable

#mozilla #firefox #opensource

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[-] f800gecko@mastodon.online 1 points 5 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social

'Running down battery life' over millions upon millions of devices is a massive energy suck.

It is not trivial.

[-] 1024Bytes@masto.ai 4 points 11 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social Thankls, not noticed AI sneaked in. because i have the sidebar removed. AI and other sidebar stuff disabled in settings. And.. remove doffcourse that useless annoying sidebar again.

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 38 points 18 hours ago

I don't want AI in my browser. I've been a consistent Firefox user for years but this might make me switch to a fork.

[-] sprack@lemmy.world 18 points 18 hours ago

Under about:config, browser.tabs.groups.smart you can disable it.

[-] Tanoh@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago

....for now.

That is the standard playbook:

  • Introduce unpopular feature
  • Defend it by saying there is an option in preferences to disable it
  • Later hide the option in some obscure config instead
  • Finally, remove the option to disable it
[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 19 points 18 hours ago

Thanks for reminding me to do this.

I don't really want to have to keep checking the release notes for new AI bullshit, though.

[-] mouse@midwest.social 8 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

There's an option labeled Use AI to suggest tabs and a name for tab groups.

On 141 it's listed in Settings under the General => Tabs section.

It changes browser.tabs.groups.smart.userEnabled.

Looking at it further, either option will disable it. Here's the code that checks both values, https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/blob/FIREFOX-ANDROID_141_0_3_RELEASE/browser/components/tabbrowser/content/tabgroup-menu.js#L481

[-] relativestranger@feddit.nl 10 points 18 hours ago

there used to be a more accessible toggle in settings for that. why tf would they take that out?

[-] Oisteink@feddit.nl 7 points 17 hours ago

To keep most users from disabling it. Just like why the don’t make it opt in.

[-] remon@ani.social 6 points 17 hours ago

Also everything that starts with "browser.ml.chat".

[-] chesheer@mastodon.bsd.cafe 15 points 16 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social Who the hell needs AI to group tabs? It's so absurd!
This is why we can't have nice things.

[-] pertho@mastodon.bsd.cafe 14 points 17 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social Yay. More AI crap to turn off. Just what we needed. Thanks, Mozilla.

[-] apzpins@mstdn.games 3 points 12 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social Odd, this was disabled by default on mine. I had already started to wonder if they'd find a new way to cause grief.

[-] mariu5@ruhr.social 9 points 17 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social what is mozilla supposed to do? Inferencing is resource intensive by nature. Doing this in the cloud and users would complain about privacy. Not doing it at all and users would complain about Firefox feeling old and complicated

[-] scytale@piefed.zip 3 points 14 hours ago

Yeah it's been incredibly slow in macOS and Linux. Bitwarden has also been slow but I'm not sure if it's FF that's causing it. It's slowly becoming a bloated mess.

[-] kroko@piefed.world 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

True, Bitwarden adon have been buggy in the last few days.

[-] weston@techhub.social 8 points 17 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social I can't wait for this bubble to pop. The suspense is killing me.

[-] quincy@chaos.social 1 points 12 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social

🤦

[-] Vincent@feddit.nl 6 points 17 hours ago

Here's the bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1982278#c4

It does not appear to be caused by smart tab grouping (which you also have to actively enable yourself).

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 16 hours ago

it was enabled for me and I just took it off. I ever enabled it so it must be default to have it on.

[-] Vincent@feddit.nl 1 points 30 minutes ago

If by "enabled" you mean you saw a button "Suggest more of my tabs", then I believe that is present by default, but I believe it only downloads the model when you actually press that button for the first time. At least it did for me.

It's possible that I'm misunderstanding what it does otherwise though. Still, does not appear to have been the cause of this particular issue.

[-] zeroase@fosstodon.org 1 points 14 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social I can only recommend switching to Firefox ESR. It's the same old Firefox, but without the monthly brain farts.

[-] aemstuz@pol.social 1 points 14 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social So good I've moved to Vivaldi recently 😌

#Vivaldi

[-] earwigplanet@mastodon.social 2 points 17 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social Since this upgrade, Firefox routinely crashes on startup and freezes once it does finally load. Takes about 5 minutes now just to open on my end.

[-] darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 17 hours ago

I didn't realize it was out. I'm guessing it's a phased rollout with windows users being first in the test group? None of my linux machines have it enabled by default.

[-] toddz@social.linux.pizza 2 points 18 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social THANK YOU! The last update made Firefox unusable even on my fairly capable desktop but I hadn’t figured out why.

[-] Miner34@mastodon.social 1 points 16 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social Well, better than running it on the cloud. Still, this is a great reason to switch to a firefox derivate like Librewolf or Floorp.

[-] vintprox@techhub.social 1 points 17 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social Fucking Mozilla, man!

[-] Sturmflut@mastodon.social 1 points 18 hours ago

@omgubuntu@floss.social I'm so sick and tired of having to wade through about: config to disable poorly implemented stuff

this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2025
81 points (100.0% liked)

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