- Mozilla criticizes Microsoft Copilot practices
- Microsoft has faced complaints for imposing its AI on users
- Now you decide to reduce Copilot in your applications
If you’re a long-time Windows user, you may have noticed Microsoft’s not-so-subtle attempts to shoehorn its Copilot artificial intelligence (AI) into virtually every possible application on your PC. Copilot in Notepad? Check. In widgets? You bet. In the snipping tool? Of course.
But all that unreasonable AI-ification has led to repeated backlash from users, and it looks like Microsoft has finally taken notice by reducing machine learning features in a selection of its own apps. And for Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, that step should have been taken a long time ago.
On the company’s official blog, Linda Griffin, Mozilla’s vice president of global policy, said that “rolling back these forced AI integrations is the right decision, but this is just the latest example of Microsoft going too far without user consent.”
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Griffin characterized Microsoft’s Copilot expansion as sweeping and done “without notice or consent,” noting that users were not asked if they wanted their apps to be equipped with AI features.
And Griffin was blunt about Microsoft’s motivations, saying that “when Microsoft says it now wants to be ‘intentional’ about Copilot, they are actually admitting that they made repeated decisions to serve their business and not their customers.”
‘Deceptive’ movements
Griffin argued that incorporating AI within its applications was part of a “pattern of misleading design patterns” by Microsoft.
An investigation commissioned by Mozilla has found that “Microsoft uses design and layout tactics to override user choice,” such as the Windows search bar opening Edge and not the web browser of your choice, the lack of a device migration system in Microsoft’s operating system, and the complicated path users must take if they want to select a new default browser.
By contrast, Mozilla says it is doing things differently. Its own in-browser AI can be disabled using a single kill switch, something that was implemented after user feedback. Griffin says this is part of Mozilla’s thinking about AI: “You need to decide if AI is part of your browsing experience. Not Big Tech. Not Mozilla. You.”
Griffin also compared Mozilla’s approach to Microsoft’s in another way, saying: “And critically, your preferences also persist across browser updates, meaning the AI tools won’t silently reactivate after a major update. They don’t have to be reinstalled. You can’t opt out again after the fact.”
There’s no doubt that Microsoft has come under a lot of criticism for the aggressive way it has implemented Copilot in its apps, and users have forced it in other areas as well.
Now that the company decides to change course after facing strong complaints, it’s hard to disagree with much of what Mozilla’s Griffin has said.
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