Do Son 
Image: Mozilla
In its recent v141.0 release, Firefox introduced support for managing tab groups through a built-in artificial intelligence model. For example, when a user creates a new tab group, the AI automatically analyzes the content and assigns a name to the group.
This feature is currently being rolled out gradually and, once received, is enabled by default. When active, the local AI model in Firefox consumes CPU resources, with some users complaining that it uses an excessive amount of CPU for extended periods.
On Reddit, several users have observed that the Firefox AI model—not an abundance of open tabs—was the true culprit behind sudden spikes in CPU usage and power consumption on their laptops. Opening Firefox’s status page at about:processes reveals the activity of browser components, where the AI inference process can reach as high as 130% usage (figures exceeding 100% are due to calculation methods). Such load can cause the browser—and even the entire PC—to become sluggish.
In reality, the AI-based tab grouping function is far from essential. If it did not impact system performance, it might be a harmless convenience, as naming tab groups manually is already a simple task. However, when it consumes excessive hardware resources, the trade-off becomes highly questionable. While running the AI model locally does help safeguard user privacy, heavy CPU usage significantly shortens laptop battery life.
From this perspective, Firefox’s AI feature feels more like a burden than a benefit. Yet, the most recent bug-fix releases—v141.0.2 and v141.0.3—contain no changelog entries related to the AI model, suggesting that the issue remains unresolved.
It is worth noting that this AI-based tab grouping is still in phased rollout. Users who have not yet received the update are unaffected, demonstrating that Mozilla’s staggered deployment strategy has merit—at the very least, it allows them to identify such severe, user-impacting bugs early.
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