Vivaldi says no to AI features

Vivaldi has announced that it won't add AI features to its browser. The Norway-based company's CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, says users are becoming spectators as AI is taking over browsers.

Here is a quote from the article published on Vivaldi's blog,

"We’re taking a stand, choosing humans over hype, and we will not turn the joy of exploring into inactive spectatorship. Without exploration, the web becomes far less interesting. Our curiosity loses oxygen and the diversity of the web dies."

Tetzchner took some shots at Google and Microsoft for bundling AI into Chrome, and Edge and letting them perform actions on the user's behalf, scan what is on the screen, etc. He also pointed out how AI summaries are affecting web publishers, they lose traffic because users don't visit the website if they find the information in an AI-generated summary. Tetzchner warns that the future of web browsers is based on "who controls the pathway to information, and who gets to monetize you".

Vivaldi will "not add an LLM to add a chatbot, a summarization solution or a suggestion engine to fill up forms for you, until more rigorous ways to do those things are available."

He nailed it. OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and the others have created a lot of hype, they have convinced people that not using AI is inconvenient, slow, boring, and in the way of progress. Unfortunately, many people have fallen for such marketing tactics, without an ounce of care about their privacy.

Is Vivaldi making a mistake? I don't think so, a browser does not need a built-in AI. Most AI-powered features in browsers provide options to summarize web pages, contextual answers, offer quick access to the chatbot in a sidebar, and writing tools via generative AI. All of these things can be done via web versions of chat services.

I find AI features like search, translate, subtitle generation to be useful for learning and discovering things. When I want to use an AI, I open a new tab to get the information I want, not at the cost of privacy, i.e. running in the background. Sometimes I run the same query on multiple AI services to compare their answers, accuracy, etc. This may not be as convenient as clicking on a button, but it works. If you want to use an AI service as your search engine, just add it to your browser.

On the other hand, generative AI is of little value to me, but I'm sure others find it helpful along with features like chatting with the AI, automating tasks, etc. But the same logic applies here, if you want to use these features, you can do so directly on the AI's website. Why depend on a browser's button? You have the freedom to use whatever you want.

Some browsers use AI for special features, for example to manage tabs, tab groups, both Firefox and Edge do this, though their functionalities vary greatly. Such features can be useful for some users, while others may consider them as bloat.

Many people have voiced their concerns about Mozilla adding AI features in Firefox.  I'm not particularly concerned about the recent AI additions to the browser, considering that it uses local language models. But I'll admit, the only reasons why I'm sticking to Firefox are uBlock Origin and Containers. If Mozilla were to shove cloud-based AI, or other bloat into Firefox, that would be a different story.

Not everyone needs or wants AI. And even for those who like AI, their needs may differ greatly. You can't please everyone, but you can't afford to anger users either, or you risk losing them. Remaining neutral is the sensible thing to do, just let the user decide what they want to do. It's their computer, and their browser. If you want to use AI services, use them, or don't. That's why I think Vivaldi's decision is sensible.