Chrome Is Quietly Installing a 4GB AI Model on Your Computer—And Putting It Back If You Delete It

Check your Chrome idiosyncratic information folder. There's a decent accidental a 4GB AI exemplary is sitting there—one you ne'er agreed to install. The record is called weights.bin, buried successful a folder named OptGuideOnDeviceModel. It's the value record for Gemini Nano, Google's on-device connection model.

Delete it and Chrome downloads it again.

Privacy researcher Alexander Hanff uncovered the behaviour portion moving an automated audit connected a caller Chrome profile. Using macOS kernel filesystem logs, helium traced Chrome creating a temp directory, pulling down exemplary components, and placing the finished record connected disk. The full process took astir 15 minutes. No notification. No prompt. The illustration had received zero quality input astatine immoderate point.

The aforesaid signifier has been confirmed connected Windows 11, Apple Silicon Macs, and Ubuntu. Users who've been uncovering unexplained retention spikes for implicit a twelvemonth present person a sanction for the culprit.

What it really does

Gemini Nano powers Chrome's on-device AI features: Things similar "Help maine constitute an email," scam detection, astute paste, leafage summarization, and AI-assisted tab grouping. On Windows, the record lands astatine %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\OptGuideOnDeviceModel\weights.bin. On Mac and Linux, it's the equivalent Chrome illustration directory.

Deleting the folder provides nary imperishable relief. Chrome restores it connected the adjacent restart unless you disable the feature—via chrome://flags, the On-device AI toggle successful Settings > System, oregon connected Windows, a registry edit mounting OptimizationGuideModelDownloading to disabled.

Chrome precocious added a salient "AI Mode" pill successful the code bar. A tenable idiosyncratic seeing that button—with a 4GB section exemplary already connected their disk—would presume their queries enactment on-device. They don't. AI Mode routes each query to Google's unreality servers. The section Gemini Nano exemplary doesn't powerfulness it astatine all.

You're paying the retention and bandwidth outgo for a diagnostic you're not really utilizing privately.

Is it ineligible oregon “legal”?

Hanff argues Google is violating EU privateness law. His lawsuit centers connected Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive—the aforesaid clause down cooky consent banners—which requires "prior, freely-given, specific, informed, and unambiguous consent" earlier storing thing connected a user's device. He besides cites GDPR Articles 5(1) and 25, covering transparency and privateness by design.

He besides drew a nonstop enactment to a lawsuit helium published 2 weeks earlier: Anthropic's Claude Desktop silently pre-authorized browser automation crossed astir 3 cardinal idiosyncratic machines without explicit consent. It’s the aforesaid pattern, helium argued, but astatine a overmuch smaller scale.

However, Google has been sneaking Gemini Nano successful Chrome for a while. People conscionable didn’t notice. “To supply an enhanced browser experience, Chrome uses on-device AI models to assistance powerfulness web and browser features,” Google says successful its Support Site. “Chrome whitethorn download on-device Generative AI models successful the background, truthful features that trust connected these on-device models enactment acceptable for use. If you delete on-device AI models, lone features that trust connected them volition beryllium unavailable.”

“In February, we began rolling retired the quality for users to easy crook disconnected and region the exemplary straight successful Chrome settings. Once disabled the exemplary volition nary longer download oregon update.” the institution told Android Authority.

The institution noted the exemplary auto-deletes if retention runs low. What Google didn't code is wherefore users weren't asked first.

Google’s ain Chrome developer documentation tells third-party developers it's "best signifier to alert the idiosyncratic to the clip required to execute these downloads." Google didn't travel its ain proposal this time.