diff --git a/extensions/chromium/preferences_schema.json b/extensions/chromium/preferences_schema.json
index 23b37fb7f58a22..eb23d18c0dfc08 100644
--- a/extensions/chromium/preferences_schema.json
+++ b/extensions/chromium/preferences_schema.json
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@
       "type": "boolean",
       "default": false
     },
+    "enableGuessAltText": {
+      "type": "boolean",
+      "default": true
+    },
     "altTextLearnMoreUrl": {
       "type": "string",
       "default": ""
diff --git a/web/app.js b/web/app.js
index 02436ff4a9d985..51da94668ac9e0 100644
--- a/web/app.js
+++ b/web/app.js
@@ -205,10 +205,10 @@ const PDFViewerApplication = {
       if (mode) {
         document.documentElement.classList.add(mode);
       }
-    } else {
+    } else if (AppOptions.get("enableAltText")) {
       // We want to load the image-to-text AI engine as soon as possible.
       this.mlManager = new MLManager({
-        enableAltText: AppOptions.get("enableAltText"),
+        enableGuessAltText: AppOptions.get("enableGuessAltText"),
         altTextLearnMoreUrl: AppOptions.get("altTextLearnMoreUrl"),
       });
     }
diff --git a/web/app_options.js b/web/app_options.js
index 001fa72ddb14cc..941b9a4499126d 100644
--- a/web/app_options.js
+++ b/web/app_options.js
@@ -179,6 +179,11 @@ const defaultOptions = {
     value: false,
     kind: OptionKind.VIEWER + OptionKind.PREFERENCE,
   },
+  enableGuessAltText: {
+    /** @type {boolean} */
+    value: true,
+    kind: OptionKind.VIEWER + OptionKind.PREFERENCE,
+  },
   enableHighlightEditor: {
     // We'll probably want to make some experiments before enabling this
     // in Firefox release, but it has to be temporary.
diff --git a/web/firefoxcom.js b/web/firefoxcom.js
index 8f84d6b9f5c048..869b69564ce06e 100644
--- a/web/firefoxcom.js
+++ b/web/firefoxcom.js
@@ -328,8 +328,8 @@ class MLManager {
     return FirefoxCom.requestAsync("mlGuess", data);
   }
 
-  enable({ altTextLearnMoreUrl, enableAltText, listenToProgress }) {
-    if (enableAltText) {
+  enable({ altTextLearnMoreUrl, enableGuessAltText, listenToProgress }) {
+    if (enableGuessAltText) {
       this.#loadAltTextEngine(listenToProgress);
     }
     // The `altTextLearnMoreUrl` is used to provide a link to the user to learn