{"title": "Researcher Accuses Google Chrome of Silently Installing 4GB AI Model Without Permission", "body": ["Google has been aggressively promoting its artificial intelligence offerings recently, leading to claims that the Chrome browser quietly acquires a 4-gigabyte file essential for operating Gemini Nano, its local large language model. Computer security expert Alexander Hanff detailed this issue on his platform, The Privacy Guy, earlier this week, explaining in depth why such actions reflect poorly on the company." , "Testing confirmed Hanff's observations regarding the file, titled weights.bin, located within the Chrome subdirectory of the macOS Library folder—a typically concealed area to safeguard essential system components from accidental alterations. The file exceeds 4 GB in size and resides precisely as described. Hanff points out that Chrome never seeks user approval before incorporating the Gemini Nano weights, which support AI functionalities such as text composition assistance and local fraud identification." , "Following the initial publication of this report, Google shared this response with Engadget: 'We've offered Gemini Nano for Chrome since 2024 as a lightweight, on-device model. It powers important security capabilities like scam detection and developer APIs without sending your data to the cloud. While this requires some local space on the desktop to run, the model will automatically uninstall if the device is low on resources. In February, we began rolling out the ability for users to easily turn off and remove the model directly in Chrome settings. Once disabled the model will no longer download or update. More details in our help center article.'"], "It's noteworthy that examinations on another Mac and a colleague's laptop revealed no presence of the weights.bin file. The item materialized in the specified location shortly after upgrading Chrome to version 148.0.7778.97 on one personal device. Moreover, after removing the containing folder on that machine, the substantial weights.bin reemerged within minutes." , "Hanff documented comparable patterns on various Windows systems. 'The user deletes, Chrome re-downloads, the user deletes again, Chrome re-downloads again. 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.'", "Crucially, Hanff overlooked the simple deactivation method highlighted by Google in the browser's configuration options. Accessing Chrome's preferences and selecting the 'system' category from the sidebar reveals a switch to deactivate local AI capabilities." , "Hanff further highlights concerns that this practice could breach European data protection regulations, such as GDPR. He also addresses the substantial ecological footprint: deploying this 4 GB file to an estimated 500 million devices—roughly 15% of Chrome's user base—could generate approximately 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, equivalent to the yearly output from 6,500 automobiles. This calculation pertains solely to the first-time distribution, with numerous other elements likely amplifying the overall energy consumption." , "Update, May 6, 2026, 1:35PM ET: This article incorporates Google's official comment and mentions the February introduction of the option to disable on-device AI features in Chrome."]}