this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. (www.thatprivacyguy.com)
submitted 2 hours ago by sanitation@lemmy.radio to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 39 points 1 hour ago

The AI Mode pill in the Chrome 147 omnibox is a cloud-backed Search Generative Experience surface - every query the user types into it is sent over the network to Google's servers for processing by Google's hosted models. The on-device Nano model is not invoked by the AI Mode UI flow at all. They are entirely separate code paths - the most visible AI affordance in the browser does not use the local model the user has been silently given, and the features that do use the local model (Help-Me-Write in , tab-group AI suggestions, smart paste, page summary) are buried in textarea-context menus and tab-group right-click menus that the average user will discover, on average, never.

What a double kick to the dick. First, they silently download 4gb to your disk, and they still fucking send your shit to their cloud AI.

[–] IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 70 points 1 hour ago (6 children)

Remember how few years ago there was a massive outcry when U2s album was downloaded to devices without permission?

[–] smeg@infosec.pub 51 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Two decades. We're old

[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 1 hour ago

I believe they did it a second time more recently.

[–] Oaksey@lemmy.world 3 points 41 minutes ago

If it was actually good people may not have cared so much.

[–] Melonpoly@lemmy.world 4 points 42 minutes ago (1 children)

Remember how pissed off everyone was when Sony added software to people's computers?

[–] grue@lemmy.world 1 points 4 minutes ago

Do you mean that time they installed a rootkit on people's PCs when they went to play (what was supposed to be a) music CD, or the time they retroactively and remotely sabotaged Linux on people's Playstations?

Just wondering which massive felony that should've landed the entire C-suite in prison you're referring to, since there was more than one.

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[–] tomatolung@lemmy.world 42 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

So we now have a four-way evidence chain - macOS kernel filesystem events, Chrome's own per-profile state, Chrome's runtime feature flags, and Google's component-updater logs - all four agreeing on the same conduct, and the conduct is: a 4 GB AI model arrived on this user's disk without consent, without notice, on a profile that received zero human input, in a window of 14 minutes and 28 seconds, on a Tuesday afternoon.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

How do we uninstall or block the download?

[–] livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net 23 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Uninstall chrome

[–] leoj@piefed.social 7 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Can you even uninstall chrome on an android phone? I only get the option to disable.

[–] frischkaesbagett@feddit.org 1 points 15 minutes ago

That depends on the ROM you are using.

The one i am using (https://iode.tech/) is using a firefox based browser that you can actually uninstall.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

So it just to the Chrome app?

[–] livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net 8 points 1 hour ago

The article actually gives 3 options:

The only ways to make the deletion stick are to disable Chrome's AI features through chrome://flags or enterprise policy tooling that home users do not generally have, or to uninstall Chrome entirely

  1. It can probably be reverted at their whim at any time
  2. You probably don't have access to it
  3. It is the most realistic option, just use another non chromium browser
[–] tomatolung@lemmy.world 12 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

More difficult to remove than install. Adding the file took zero clicks. Removing it requires (a) discovering the file exists, (b) understanding what it is, (c) navigating into a hidden user profile path, (d) deleting it (and on Windows, also clearing the read-only attribute first), and (e) accepting that Chrome will silently re-download it on next eligible window unless the user also navigates chrome://flags, enterprise policy, or platform-specific configuration tooling to disable the underlying Chrome AI feature [5]. None of those steps is documented in the place a normal user looks - none of them is even hinted at in default Chrome.

This is 5: https://pureinfotech.com/stop-chrome-gemini-nano-download-windows-11/

Obviously only windows focused, so how other platforms stop would require more searching.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

I don't have Windows 11. Still on 10 until October then switching to Linux.

[–] GutterRat42@lemmy.world 2 points 4 minutes ago

Not on mine

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 9 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Maybe that why Google sent me this bullshit

[–] Oaksey@lemmy.world 7 points 37 minutes ago (1 children)

How was the van repair?

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 3 points 36 minutes ago (1 children)

What? I don't own a van.

[–] Oaksey@lemmy.world 6 points 34 minutes ago (1 children)

Top row of your screenshot

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 4 points 32 minutes ago

Oh that yeah that Trent the Traveler. And that was a Patreon exclusive video. And it got it fixed.

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 58 minutes ago) (5 children)

What is a Google One plan?

Edit. Oh i see. Is that 15gb the original storage for gmail and stuff? Are we that old that we're filing that up? Oh man

[–] HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world 7 points 40 minutes ago (1 children)

I remember when Gmail was advertised as unlimited email storage. Then they limited it. Then they sold more storage for it.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 4 points 18 minutes ago

I remember when the Google Pixel offered free unlimited high quality photo backup to excuse the fact it had no SD card.

Then it offered free medium quality photo backup to excuse the fact it had no SD card.

Then it offered nothing because it had squeezed serious competitors with SD cards out of the market.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 8 points 55 minutes ago

No my Gmail isn't even full, my wife got same email. Fucking scam to make us sign up for their extra storage.

[–] ITGuyLevi@programming.dev 2 points 25 minutes ago

My Gmail had 17 or 19GB last time I checked... Gotta love when they would give you extra storage just for doing a 'security check'.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 2 points 19 minutes ago

Google One is the combined storage of every service you use, even accidentally. Google Photos Gmail, Drive, it's all in there.

Emails take up some space, especially if they have embedded images or attachments.

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 3 points 56 minutes ago

I think they lowered the threshold

[–] jpablo68@infosec.pub 1 points 29 minutes ago

This is Bonzi-buddy-levels of spyware...

[–] Scotty_Trees@lemmy.world 0 points 53 minutes ago

I don't use Google Chrome, LULZ

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