Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

[mambo4]

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month...

www.thatprivacyguy.com

Google Chrome is reaching into users' machines and writing a 4 GB on-device AI model file to disk without asking. The file is named weights.bin. It lives in OptGuideOnDeviceModel. It is the weights for Gemini Nano, Google's on-device LLM. Chrome did not ask. Chrome does not surface it. If the user deletes it, Chrome re-downloads it.

Here is where you can disable chrome's "gemeni" AI options to stop it :

 

[Gopherbassist]

Is this desktop only or mobile as well?

 

[mambo4]

The article only explicitly mentions it detected on Windows and MacOs.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Don't use Chrome?

 

[mambo4]

In the article, Anthropic has done similar, at a smaller scale, to Claude Desktop users.

 

[MindinAction]

Thanks for this. I turned it all off.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Thanks for this. I turned it all off.

Uhhhh....you sure about that? I don't think its like a light switch.

 

[ravlin]

Yesterday I asked my andriod auto friend (google assistant) to play something and Gemeni answered. Gemeni told me that google assistant is being phased out as of March.

 

[MindinAction]

No. I'm totally not sure. But everything I could "turn off" in the settings is off. Whether that keeps the thing at bay is another question entirely.

Edit: Under "Gemini Apps Activity" in the AI innovations area, there's this: "When this setting is off, Google still saves chats for 72 hours to respond to you and help keep Gemini safe." So, there you go. Not off.

 

[ThinCrappyTone2]

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — That Privacy Guy!

Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month...

www.thatprivacyguy.com

Here is where you can disable chrome's "gemeni" AI options to stop it :

View attachment 7489006

Thanks for posting this

 

[JazznFunk]

This is why I don't use Chrome. FireFox put in AI blockers into their last update, and make it known they were in there and available.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

I never used Chrome because it tries to take over your computer. Never trusted it. I won't sign in with Google either for the same reason.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

DOG BLAMMIT BROTHER TRUCKING AI BUSHY BIT!!!!

 

[foolandhismoney]

Does anyone know, is this specific to all versions of windows? I have w7 on my desktop. I use ddg on my w10 laptop.

 

[foolandhismoney]

I just investigated this on my w7 desktop, there is no ai innovations tab in the settings. Does anyone know if I'm safe due to my operating system being so outdated?

 

[SactoBass]

"We are one step closer."

 

[beaglesandbass]

Not to defend big tech here, but I'm sure this is all in the ToS that users agree to. So it's not really "without consent".

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Hmm. I've got a little favor to call in from Jeannie this evening. She likes computers even less than I do, and has quite a chip on those pink chiffon draped shoulders. I had to take her BB gun away when the Google truck came up our road a couple years back.

 

[mambo4]

Not to defend big tech here, but I'm sure this is all in the ToS that users agree too. So it's not really "without consent".

The article cite specific laws that it violates ... in the EU at least

 

[Sean150]

I just investigated this on my w7 desktop, there is no ai innovations tab in the settings. Does anyone know if I'm safe due to my operating system being so outdated?

Safe from AI stuff, pretty likely, but running an OS that old is very risky. You’re essentially protecting against a corporation that will at least pretend to follow international laws and standards while holding the door open for cyber criminals.

Solution, get a current OS and stop using Chrome.