Google Chrome secretly installed a 4GB AI model on users' PCs

It has been revealed that the Google Chrome browser is automatically downloading and installing the Gemini Nano on-device AI model in the background without explicit user consent.

Key details are as follows:

• Installation mechanism: Chrome checks the user's hardware specifications (GPU, number of CPU cores, RAM of 16GB or more, free storage space of 22GB or more), and if the conditions are met, automatically downloads a 4GB weights.bin file into the OptGuideOnDeviceModel folder.
• Cannot be deleted: Even if a user manually deletes the file, restarting Chrome triggers the download to be attempted again, making it difficult to remove.
• Features provided: Gemini Nano is used to run features locally such as Help Me Write, phishing and scam detection, tab group suggestions, page summarization, and smart paste.
• Privacy and regulatory issues: Google claims that this protects privacy since data is not sent to servers, but concerns have been raised about potential violations of regulations such as the EU ePrivacy Directive, given that data is stored without user consent.
• How to configure: Some users are provided with an 'On-Device AI' toggle in settings, but for those who don't yet have this option, it must be disabled directly via chrome://flags.