Mozilla introduced an Artificial Intelligence kill switch in Firefox nightly builds in early February after severe community backlash, and the company targeted Firefox 148 as the first stable release to include it. As of February 23, Firefox 148 is officially available for download via the download server ahead of the officially announced February 24 launch date, giving users early access to the new controls. According to Mozilla, the Artificial Intelligence features will remain disabled through updates once they have been disabled via the kill switch, addressing concerns that future releases might silently reenable them.
The Artificial Intelligence kill switch arrives alongside several visible feature upgrades in Firefox 148. Mozilla is slated to add a split view that lets users see two pages or tabs side by side, which appears to be graduating from experimental status in this build. HDR video streaming on Windows is also expected to leave its experimental phase in Firefox 148, expanding support for high dynamic range playback for users with compatible displays and content.
Under the hood, Firefox 148 is expected to improve performance and usability in everyday workflows. Hardware acceleration is also expected to speed up PDF load times, reducing delays when viewing complex documents in the browser’s built in viewer. The sidebar is receiving a visual update that provides convenient access to bookmarks, history, Artificial Intelligence tools, and the settings menu in a more streamlined layout. As with other Firefox user interface elements, the new sidebar is fully customizable in the settings menu, allowing users to tailor which items appear and how they are organized.
