How to clean up the built-in artificial intelligence in your browser

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Every time we open the browser, it feels like they appear more artificial intelligence features embedded throughoutIn the address bar, on the homepage, in the side menus… and often we haven't even asked for them nor do we intend to use them. For many people, this is no longer synonymous with modernity, but with… noise, distractions and extra resource consumption.

If you identify with this and want to Leave your browser as clean as possible of AI features Without giving up using Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave or Opera, there are several ways to do it: from scripts that modify advanced options including extensions and internal tweaks. There are also tricks to reduce the impact of AI on Google search results and more radical solutions that filter machine-generated content across the entire web.

Why AI has taken over the browser

Modern browsers come loaded with features designed, in theory, to improve the browsing experience and increase usage timeBut in practice, many of these features end up being a nuisance. Artificial intelligence has become the latest "mandatory add-on" that big tech companies are including in their products.

We spent a good part of the day with Chrome, Edge or Firefox as the main window to the digital worldWhether for work, watching videos, reading news, or playing games, this enormous amount of usage time means developers are constantly seeking ways to stand out from the competition, and the current trend is to flood the interface with assistants, AI summaries, smart comparators, and contextual panels.

The problem comes when These new features offer nothing to the average user or even hinder: buttons we never use, panels that open unintentionally, AI suggestions that obscure normal results, or background functions that consume RAM and bandwidth to download local models.

In many cases, these implementations also serve as a gateway to the telemetry and data collectionThese changes are justified under the mantra of "improving the product." For someone who simply wants a fast, lightweight browser that doesn't spy on them excessively, this entire AI package is basically bloatware.

Just the Browser: Turn Chrome, Edge, and Firefox into AI-free browsers

One of the most interesting proposals for bringing order is called Just the Browser, an open-source project that aims, quite literally, to make the browser just that again: a browser. Its approach is rather aggressive, as modifies settings at the level of Windows' register and internal policies to disable or block everything related to AI and certain extra services.

This project is distributed as Free and open-source software hosted on GitHubwhere you can review the contents of the files and see exactly what changes are being made. It's not just another extension, but a set of settings designed to prevent AI functions from being downloaded, executed, or even appearing in the interface.

Among the actions that Just the Browser applies, several stand out as very specific to Chrome and Chromium-based browsers, which also affect Edge and, to a lesser extent, Firefox, with the aim of Leave out anything that smacks of generative AI or aggressive telemetry.

Which AI components does Just the Browser remove?

Once the Just the Browser configuration files are executed, the browser undergoes a complete stripping of added features. The idea is for the application to behave like a classic browser without AI layers or superimposed “experiments”Among other things, this project is capable of:

• Disable Google AI Mode integrations in the address bar and search boxpreventing automatically generated suggestions or summaries from appearing when a query is typed.
• Remove the option to create themes and wallpapers using generative AIwhich in many cases involves downloading additional models and resources.
• Blocking deep integration with Gemini, Google's assistant and generative model, preventing it from connecting or interacting natively with the browser.
• Prevent the downloading of local artificial intelligence models that some browsers are starting to offer to run on your own computer without much warning.

In addition to focusing on AI, Just the Browser It touches on collateral functions that also use intelligent processes and telemetry., such as:

• Turn off the "Help me type" feature in text fields, comment boxes, and forms.
• Get rid of smart search history, which uses advanced algorithms to suggest visits and patterns.
• Disable options such as “Smartly compare tabs” or similar tools that process content behind the scenes.
• Force Chrome to use the operating system's DNS client instead of integrated DNS, reducing a potential tracking layer.
• Disable debugging tools based on generative models within the DevTools for developers.

Taken together, these measures achieve that Many elements promoted as "useful" AI, but which actually complicate the interface, will disappear. and add continuous load to the system. The browser becomes much closer to a clean and predictable experience.

How to install and uninstall Just the Browser on Windows

You don't need to be an expert to implement these changes, although it's advisable to proceed with caution because It works directly on the Windows registry and system policiesThe project creators facilitate the entire process through two text files or scripts: one to install the changes and another to revert them.

The general procedure is to Access the official Just the Browser page on GitHubwhere the steps compatible with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox are explained. Within the repository you will find:

• A file for applying policies and modifications (facility).
• A file to undo those same policies (uninstallation) and leave the browser as it was.

It is only necesary Download those files and save them to your hard drive.Then, they are opened from File Explorer by right-clicking and choosing the appropriate option (for example, open with registry editor, if it is a .reg file) so that Windows can process the changes.

Once the corresponding file has been executed, simply Restart the affected browser so that the AI ​​cleanup is applied immediately.If later you are not satisfied with the result or you miss a feature, you can run the uninstallation file and return to the original configuration without too much trouble.

Risks and considerations when modifying the Windows registry

Playing the record is not a game: Any incorrect modification can cause strange behavior in the system or break some function. Although Just the Browser is open source and many users have reviewed its scripts, it's always recommended to take precautions.

Before launching these files, it is highly recommended create a system restore point Or at the very least, export a backup of the registry keys that are going to be changed. That way, if something goes wrong, you can revert the changes relatively easily.

Another side effect is that, when applying group policies and enterprise configurations, Browsers like Chrome, Edge, or Firefox may display the message "Your browser is managed by your organization."This does not mean that your device has been taken over by third parties, but rather that the same tools used by companies to limit functions and block unwanted features are being used.

Actually, that label is the The most effective way to disable persistent telemetry, AI modules, and other added services which are activated by default and can rarely be completely turned off only from the normal settings menu.

Advantages of clearing the AI ​​built into the browser

For those who don't want assistants or smart suggestions, using tools like Just the Browser offers several clear advantages for daily use. The first is that Removing AI layers usually results in a faster and lighter browser., with fewer active background processes.

It also improves the feeling of control: Buttons, side drawers, and banners that encourage users to try "experimental" features disappearAnd the address bar goes back to behaving like it always was: a place to type URLs or queries, without banners promoting an AI mode every other minute.

From a privacy perspective, blocking deep integrations with AI and telemetry It reduces the amount of browsing, usage, and content data that leaves your device.It's not a magic solution that makes you invisible, but it does cut through much of the noise generated around daily activity on the web.

Finally, there is an almost philosophical component: for many users, to maintain a browser focused on displaying web pages and not on selling you its latest AI It is a form of resistance against the current model in which every service wants to become a content platform and omnipresent assistant.

Lightweight alternatives: Use extensions and settings to disable AI in each browser

If you prefer not to touch the Windows registry or group policies, there are other, gentler options for Remove or hide the AI ​​built into the most popular browsersMost are based on extensions or internal settings that, while not as advanced as Just the Browser, are sufficient for most users.

In the case of Chrome, one of the most annoying points is the Integration with Gemini and AI responses in certain searches or panelsFor this purpose, there is a very practical extension called Bye Bye, Google AI, which allows you to filter and hide elements generated by Google's artificial intelligence.

Other browsers have added their own chatbots: Firefox with its AI button on the left, Edge with Copilot embedded in the sidebar, Brave with Leo AI, and Opera with Aria in the interface. In all these cases, you can partially disable those functions from the advanced settings or through internal configuration flags.

Thus, without resorting to system scripts, it is possible significantly reduce the presence of AI assistants in daily navigation, maintaining the main browsers but with behavior much more similar to that before the trend of integrated chatbots.

How to disable Gemini and AI Mode in Google Chrome

Chrome is in the midst of a transition to a new model. browser fully infused with AIGemini plays a central role in both searching and creating content within the browser itself. If you find this excessive, you can significantly reduce its presence with the appropriate extension.

The most direct tool is Bye Bye, Google AIThis add-on, once installed and configured, allows you to hide most of the elements related to Chrome's AI Mode. After installing the extension from the Chrome Web Store, simply open its settings and:

• Select the option “Hide AI General Descriptions” to prevent automatic summaries from appearing at the top of the results.
• Activate “Hide AI Mode Tab” so that Chrome stops showing that specific tab in the interface.

The extension offers other additional settings, but with those two you can already achieve that AI responses and Gemini's specific mode disappear from view in most common situations. Because it's based on Chromium, this solution also works in other compatible browsers like Brave or Microsoft Edge.

It's worth remembering that this type of extension They depend on constant changes to the Google interfaceIf Chrome redesigns its menus or introduces new ways of displaying AI, the add-on may take some time to update or some features may temporarily fail.

Remove the built-in Firefox chatbot

Mozilla has joined the trend and Firefox now includes a AI chatbot button on the left side of the interfaceThis is something many users find unnecessary or downright annoying. Unlike other browsers, here it can be disabled from advanced settings without needing to install anything.

The quick way is to go to Settings and access the section called Firefox Labs, which groups experimental features similar to the flags in other browsers. However, the most direct method is:

1. Type “about:config” in the address bar and press Enter to open the advanced panel (accepting the warning).
2. In the internal search engine, enter “browser.ml.chat.enabled” to locate the setting that controls the chatbot.
3. Double-click on the entry to change its value to “false”.

When you restart or close and reopen Firefox, The AI ​​button disappears completely from the interfaceThis leaves the browser as it was before the integration. This change does not prevent the use of external AI services from the web; it simply removes the embedded native chatbot.

How to remove the Copilot button in Microsoft Edge

Edge is one of the browsers where its manufacturer's commitment to AI is most noticeable, with Copilot integrated into the sidebar, menu, and search experienceAlthough it cannot be eradicated 100% without addressing deeper policies, it is possible to conceal much of its visual presence.

To clean up the interface, you can use Edge's internal settings by following these steps:

1. Type in the address bar “edge://settings/sidebar” and press Enter to go directly to the sidebar settings.
2. Within that section, locate the Copilot section and Uncheck the option “Show Copilot button in toolbar” so that it stops appearing alongside the other icons.
3. Return to the previous section of the sidebar and disable the “Show sidebar button” option, which completely erases from view that additional panel with which Copilot is launched.

With these changes, Copilot is no longer permanently visibleHowever, the service remains available in the background for those who wish to use it by manually accessing it. For most users, this is already enough to stop Edge from pushing its assistant every time a new tab is opened.

Disable Leo AI in Brave and Aria in Opera

Alternative browsers are also keeping pace, and many have introduced their own AI layer. Brave, for example, integrates Leo AI as an assistant in the interfaceOpera does the same with Aria in its sidebar. The good news is that both can be muted with a couple of tweaks.

In Brave, Leo AI is controlled through experimental flags. The process consists of:

• Write “brave://flags/#brave-ai-chat” in the address bar and press Enter.
• In the Brave AI Chat option, Change the value from Default (Enabled) to Disabled from the drop down menu.
• Restart your browser for the change to take effect.

Done this, Leo ceases to be operational and disappears from Brave's visible elementsThe browser reverts to a more traditional behavior, without the chat panel popping up from the bar.

In Opera, the Aria assistant appears in both the sidebar and pop-up notifications when text is selected. To reduce its presence, simply:

• Press the settings icon located in the upper right corner from the Opera window.
• Scroll down to the AI ​​Services section and Uncheck the AI ​​notifications option in the text highlighting pop-up window so that it stops suggesting smart answers every time you select something.
• Go to the Sidebar Settings and Remove Aria's mark from the list of items in the left sidebar.

Following these steps, Aria stops constantly appearing in the interfaceHowever, it could always be reactivated from the same menu if it is ever missed.

Search engines and results: how to reduce AI in Google

Beyond the browser itself, one of the areas where the shift towards AI is most noticeable is in Google's search engine, which has introduced AI Overview (or IAO), an AI-generated response block which appears above the traditional results.

AI Overview is a box that shows A summary of information based on several websitesCreated entirely by artificial intelligence models, this feature isn't activated for all queries, but it is for many that Google considers suitable for a direct response. It saves clicks, but has several drawbacks:

• The information is highly compressed and It may lose important nuances or context..
• Frequently mix facts with opinions or takes phrases from pages that are not necessarily the best sources.
• Google acknowledges in its notices that AI responses may contain errors, something that is not always clear at first glance.

Furthermore, in terms of experience, many users feel that AI Overview covers classic results and makes it difficult to access the original pages directly, encouraging people to stay on the Google summary instead of visiting specialized websites.

Differences between AI Overview and Gemini

It is important to clearly distinguish between two pieces that are sometimes confused: AI Overview and GeminiThe two are related, but they fulfill different roles within the Google ecosystem, something key to understanding what is being deactivated or avoided when we talk about "removing AI".

On one hand, AI Overview is a feature added to Google SearchIt only appears on the results page and only when the system deems it can generate a useful summary. It is presented as a block at the top of the SERP with generated text and some supporting links.

Gemini, on the other hand, is the family of generative models and the AI ​​assistant as a standalone serviceIt has its own website, mobile app, and specific features for conversation, generating text, images, or code outside of the search engine. Gemini is often behind the summaries seen in the AI ​​Overview, but at the product level, they are separate entities.

In other words: AI Overview is the visible face in the searchGemini is both the technological engine that drives it and a standalone product that can be used without going through Google Search.

Practical ways to reduce or circumvent AI Overview on Google

Currently, there is no universal button in the Google account that allows Turn off AI Overview on all searches at onceEven so, there are several tricks to approach a more traditional results experience, giving very little room to generative artificial intelligence.

The most direct option is to use the "Web" view at the top of the results pageOnce the search is complete, you can click on the Web tab (if visible) or find it within the "More" menu and select it there. With this view activated, Google only displays Links to web pages without AI blocks Overview nor other similar modules.

It's very useful so you don't have to keep changing the view each time. save a bookmark with the Web mode search already appliedOn a computer, you can pin it to the bookmarks bar for one-click access to the "simple" version of Google; on mobile, many browsers allow you to add that favorite to the home screen.

Additional help is provided by some browser extensions such as Hide Google AI OverviewThese tools attempt to automatically hide AI blocks from the results page. They work reasonably well, although they rely on third parties and are vulnerable to changes in Google's interface design.

In any case, it is important to be clear that these solutions They don't completely eliminate Google's AIHowever, they do manage to make the search engine behave much more like it did before, with a clear priority for classic organic results.

Extreme extensions: Block recent content to avoid AI junk

Besides fighting against AI embedded in the browser or search engine, some go further and seek directly filter AI-generated content on the webOne particularly striking proposal in this regard is Slop Evader, a Chrome extension designed as a "firewall" against what its creators consider generative junk.

Slop Evader works by modifying Google search queries to Exclude any results indexed after November 30, 2022This date is symbolically marked as the day ChatGPT impacted the internet and began the massive explosion of synthetic content. Therefore, the extension only displays pages published before that date.

Installation is like that of any other add-on: Add it to Chrome, activate it, and let it automatically filter all searches.The immediate effect is that tons of texts and articles created during the era of generative AI disappear from the map, minimizing the probability of encountering pages mass-produced by automated models.

The price to pay is clear: You also miss out on current news, technological advances, and relevant content published after 2022.It is an almost monastic approach that sacrifices timeliness in favor of greater confidence that what is being read was written by humans, or at least before the massive generative avalanche.

The crisis of trust in online content and the role of C2PA

Slop Evader illustrates a fundamental problem: if the only way to be relatively sure that you read Human content is about ceasing to search for new thingsThis means the internet is facing a profound crisis of trust. Organizations like Europol have already warned that, within a few years, the vast majority of online content could be synthetic.

Given this situation, instead of trying to detect what is fake automatically - something that is becoming increasingly difficult - some experts are opting for cryptographically certify what is realThat's where C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) comes in, proposing to create a "digital birth certificate" for images, video, and audio.

The idea is that the devices sign the content at the time of captureThis creates an unbroken chain of custody from the camera to the user's screen. In this way, anyone could verify whether a photo, video clip, or audio recording has been manipulated or generated entirely by AI.

Manufacturers like Qualcomm has incorporated C2PA support into chips like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3allowing pixel signing at the capture point, while cameras from brands like Sony, Canon or Leica They are already able to add that signature of authenticity with firmware updates in models such as the Sony Alpha 9 III or the Canon EOS R1.

The big problem is that Many online platforms remove or ignore this information when uploading the file.breaking the chain of custody. There are exceptions: TikTok indicates which content has been captured by real cameras, and Google is starting to use C2PA in features like "About this image" within Search and Ads. LinkedIn, for its part, adds an icon to certified images that allows users to inspect their editing history.

If these types of standards were extended to other formats, such as text or web pages, and all major platforms respected them, It would be possible to press a "switch" to hide uncertified contentachieving an effect very similar to "turning off AI" at the navigation level.

For now, however, many of the same companies that embrace C2PA They play a dual role by enhancing their own AI creation toolsWhile promising to reduce the visibility of waste generated by third parties, the result is that synthetic waste doesn't disappear; it simply changes hands.

While tech giants continue to squeeze every last drop out of artificial intelligence, money printing machine and content monopoly consolidation machineThe solutions for users involve regaining control of their immediate environment: the browser, the search engine, and the extensions they use. By adjusting these elements, it's possible to maintain a much cleaner browsing experience, with less background noise and more focus on the information that truly matters.