Firefox 141 Faces Backlash Over AI Features Draining Battery and CPU
Almost three weeks after the publication of Firefox 141, Mozilla is faced with massive criticism. The update brought new AI functions that, according to users, drive up the CPU load and significantly shorten the battery term.
Tab feature in focus
The new features include AI-based tab management, which automatically grouped open pages and suggests suitable names. But instead of arousing enthusiasm, the innovation triggers frustration with many users. On the Reddit platform increased Complaints about massively increasing CPU utilization and shortened battery life. Some users identified the “Inference” process in the task manager as the main cause. This is responsible for the local calculations of the AI, analyze the page content and convert it into vectors in order to recognize related tabs.
One user particularly clearly formulated his anger: he does not want a “bloated browser”, which with an experimental AI buried the hardware and worsens the battery life. Another reported that the manual end of the “Inference” process immediately led to a crash of Firefox.
Mozilla reacts
While competitors such as Microsoft use “Copilot” on cloud-supported solutions, Firefox processes the data locally. This is an advantage for data protection -oriented users, but the technical hurdles remain. Some commentators speculated that the choice of the OnNX format for the calculations was less efficient than alternative approaches. Mozilla has now taken a position – and the cause of the problems.
According to the company, the tab grouping feature was not to blame, but a faulty rollout of another function: the improved address strip search. This should make it easier to find visited websites without having to remember exact URLs. Here, too, processing runs with a local AI, but a bug led to unexpectedly high system load. According to Mozilla, the introduction of this function was withdrawn, so that the performance slumps should now be remedied. A permanent fix is already in the works.
