Gregory's ServerRegarding AI *in* Firefox, this has brought us a built-in translator that does not outsource the work to the cloud. That's amazingly good work. I'd love to see the browser do more of that kind of thing. https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/features/translate/
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27 comments
@sindarina I can only say that this has not been my experience. But I have indeed not seen an option to only translate part of the text. According to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/website-translation that is not there.  @bert_hubert This just feels weirdly unintuitive to me, as someone who works with multiple languages; โWhen you visit a webpage in a supported language, the translation panel will open automatically.โ There seems to be no way to not have it do that, or turn it off altogether without digging into โabout:configโ. But hey, it's in beta. @bert_hubert @sindarina @bert_hubert @sindarina @bert_hubert @sindarina FWIW, there's a FIrefox extension that let's you translate selected text with a local LLM. I wrote about using it for translation here: https://sadlynothavocdinosaur.com/posts/translate-selected/ And the extension can be found here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lit-prompts/  @sindarina @bert_hubert I use this extension https://browser.mt/ (which is probably the same thing, I believe, just packaged in a more palatable cover) and it works just fine for me. Including translation of selection.  @sindarina @bert_hubert you can select a piece of text, right click and click "Translate with Firefox Translations" to translate only that bit. Additionally the translation panel has settings which allow you to turn it off globally, or on a per-language and per-page basis. @gabrielesvelto @sindarina @bert_hubert Also, before it was integrated into Firefox, it was available as an optional extension which translates selected text & also offers a pop-up dialog you can copy/paste to & from. I'm not sure if it's still supported, but it's still available here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-translations/  @gabrielesvelto @sindarina @bert_hubert is there a way to disable it for all the languages i already set in the list? @sindarina @bert_hubert Mozilla is currently working on the possibility of translating selected text. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1855907 and dependencies. @bert_hubert the general thrust of user controlled and open source "AI" is correct, but that doesnt mean such services should be crammed in a/the browser. For some time my thinking is that developing a proper decentralized algorithmic layer belongs to the #linux desktop where it can empower all user activities. Alas even basic search is not quite elevated to where it should be. Maybe now that the "AI cloud" brings a new iterations of every app, from spreadsheets to IDE's people will wake up.  @phiofx @bert_hubert I'm afraid people won't wake up. Developers of desktop environments might wake up, add something, and then applications will go out of their way to avoid the desktop service and instead use the one that's bundled with the application. @ptesarik @bert_hubert i'll use the cliche that we are not in Kansas anymore. There are several desktop knowledge management superapps that should have been on new path already: file managers, web browsers, editors/spreadsheets and IDE's. It makes no sense to squander resources going down silo approaches, not to mention that it prevents the serendipitous augmentation of other more specialized apps and use cases. Algorithms are here to stay, the only question is who will benefit. @bert_hubert anecdotally, this feature was the main thing keeping me tied to Chrome for the longest time - when I lived in Denmark, having site-wise translation was sometimes crucial. @bert_hubert Yes, absolutely. Unfortunately marketing bullcrap has made AI synonymous for Gen. AI trained on copyrighted material without permission, and LLM's in particular. There are definitely some ethical and productive ways to benefit from AI (the broader term). Unfortunately though, Mozilla's last effort to incorporate "AI" into MDN didn't instill much confidence and was rightly frowned upon. I can understand that people are cautious against bloating their only remaining free browser.  @bert_hubert The "built-in" definitely bothers me. All those built-ins are bloat and should be optional IMO. If I ever wanted anything forced onto me Iโd have stayed with Microsoft all the way @JauneBaguette you actually have to download the language pack of you want to use it. @bert_hubert Ahem, in my opinion the fact it was built-in was poorly communicated if at all. I learned from your toot. And kept disabling it assuming this was some shady online integration.   @bert_hubert FINALLY someone with a brain. Yes, more of this local, open source AI! |
@bert_hubert I ended up turning that off again after trying it since it got introduced, since it kept popping up when I didn't need it, and, AFAICT, only works on a site level, instead of, say, selected text?
I may have missed something, but it felt very unintuitive.