<![CDATA[Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size.]]>Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. It's done without consent, it's not visible in the settings, and removing it will reinstall it later.

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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. — 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, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.

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That Privacy Guy! (www.thatprivacyguy.com)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/7de2084c-5fe9-44a3-856c-8834577cdf49/google-chrome-is-silently-installing-a-local-llm-on-your-computer-that-is-4-gigabytes-in-size.RSS for NodeFri, 15 May 2026 05:05:30 GMTTue, 05 May 2026 13:00:05 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Fri, 08 May 2026 05:46:56 GMT]]>@atoponce
“never be evil”, they once wrote. Power corrupts.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sueden.social/users/MichaelB/statuses/116537374599460917https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sueden.social/users/MichaelB/statuses/116537374599460917Fri, 08 May 2026 05:46:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Fri, 08 May 2026 05:24:43 GMT]]>@atoponce google is evil. Not at Level as Facebook/meta. On Par with Microsoft, maybe.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nrw.social/users/vgoller/statuses/116537287211525283https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://nrw.social/users/vgoller/statuses/116537287211525283Fri, 08 May 2026 05:24:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Thu, 07 May 2026 16:31:53 GMT]]>@atoponce In my time we called something like this a "trojan".

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Impertinenzija/statuses/116534248325492073https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Impertinenzija/statuses/116534248325492073Thu, 07 May 2026 16:31:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Thu, 07 May 2026 16:23:08 GMT]]>@atoponce @msbellows @atoponce @msbellows It's showed up in my chrome profile. I am on ZFS so that might be why it worked. But it came down on April 27th. See https://mastodon.social/@grimmy/116530169590371195 for more info.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/grimmy/statuses/116534213930665304https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/grimmy/statuses/116534213930665304Thu, 07 May 2026 16:23:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 16:13:41 GMT]]>@pjotrprins Well, note that it does so at the user’s request. 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://toot.aquilenet.fr/users/civodul/statuses/116528514413314086https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://toot.aquilenet.fr/users/civodul/statuses/116528514413314086Wed, 06 May 2026 16:13:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 15:57:18 GMT]]>@atoponce

I'm assuming that uninstall Chrome and delete its directory also works, because that's what I did.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/faduda/statuses/116528449997652030https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/faduda/statuses/116528449997652030Wed, 06 May 2026 15:57:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 11:25:40 GMT]]>@civodul if that argument holds then Guix should stop downloading 50Gb per machine per annum 😉

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/pjotrprins/statuses/116527381921457937https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/pjotrprins/statuses/116527381921457937Wed, 06 May 2026 11:25:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 11:18:30 GMT]]>@pvdrijst @Linux @atoponce @Vivaldi

That a feature is mentioned in that list does not mean it is enabled, it just means the code exists (and it is too difficult to actually disable this at compile-time, that requires too many patches). In fact, the feature the whole download depends on (OptimizationGuide) is disabled in Vivaldi and have been for a while, and I recently disabled the PromptApi features to be on the safe side. In addition, for a while what I suspect is the download URL for the model files being discussed has been pointed at a server that only return 404 responses . in case it should somehow be loaded.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/TechieNotNetie/statuses/116527353721116276https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/TechieNotNetie/statuses/116527353721116276Wed, 06 May 2026 11:18:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 10:33:27 GMT]]>@jasper @atoponce, why I didn't notice that!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/mgorny/statuses/116527176565349334https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/mgorny/statuses/116527176565349334Wed, 06 May 2026 10:33:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 10:21:45 GMT]]>@mgorny @atoponce 1/0.25nano

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.nl/users/jasper/statuses/116527130568928484https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.nl/users/jasper/statuses/116527130568928484Wed, 06 May 2026 10:21:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 07:58:57 GMT]]>@Linux @atoponce @Vivaldi Well Vivaldi is based on Chrome. type vivaldi:flags and search for nano

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/pvdrijst/statuses/116526569083415465https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/pvdrijst/statuses/116526569083415465Wed, 06 May 2026 07:58:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 04:11:58 GMT]]>@tbachner @atoponce It's on my ubuntu machine.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sfba.social/users/tito_swineflu/statuses/116525676534524993https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sfba.social/users/tito_swineflu/statuses/116525676534524993Wed, 06 May 2026 04:11:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 02:51:24 GMT]]>@atoponce why are people still even using chrome ffs

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://beige.party/users/rothko/statuses/116525359716082954https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://beige.party/users/rothko/statuses/116525359716082954Wed, 06 May 2026 02:51:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 02:15:57 GMT]]>@atoponce Good that we have a healthy browser competition and it’s easy to switch

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/almad/statuses/116525220363582093https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/almad/statuses/116525220363582093Wed, 06 May 2026 02:15:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Wed, 06 May 2026 01:37:51 GMT]]>@atoponce

Feature flag is here: chrome://flags/#prompt-api-for-gemini-nano

When enabled, it powers demos like this: https://chrome.dev/web-ai-demos/prompt-api-playground/

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/Arpie4Math/statuses/116525070522838905https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/Arpie4Math/statuses/116525070522838905Wed, 06 May 2026 01:37:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 23:16:45 GMT]]>@atoponce@fosstodon.orgMy thoughts on this would be to write a script that installs in MBR,
At boot time,
With no date limit,
Forensics Tools...
The script that will block such request in the future.
If you are worried about the coding process, AI is Excellent in the helping.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116139949607967655/statuses/116524515677677773https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116139949607967655/statuses/116524515677677773Tue, 05 May 2026 23:16:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 21:56:58 GMT]]>@atoponce the heck 🫩.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://navi.lain.day/users/radhitya/statuses/01KQX29W2V7TBFBEP8PH77BCFVhttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://navi.lain.day/users/radhitya/statuses/01KQX29W2V7TBFBEP8PH77BCFVTue, 05 May 2026 21:56:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 21:54:51 GMT]]>@atoponce question seems to be why? If the weights are sitting on your machine, but the ai functionality is still calling home... Is this some weird distributed AI alternative to building data centres? Using your users processing downtime to answer Gemini queries _elsewhere_?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/toychicken/statuses/116524193625454234https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/toychicken/statuses/116524193625454234Tue, 05 May 2026 21:54:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 20:31:42 GMT]]>@atoponce AI infra companies cannot seriously get away with pulling shit like this surely

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://techhub.social/users/beemdvp/statuses/116523866702519009https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://techhub.social/users/beemdvp/statuses/116523866702519009Tue, 05 May 2026 20:31:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 20:22:57 GMT]]>@atoponce@fosstodon.org @tbachner@ruhr.social

Yeah. I'm using an EL9 derivative (via WSL). Looks like I installed the portable installer (i.e., it lives under ${HOME}/firefox/) rather than from RPM, though. A little odd for my habits, but I can't remember why I did it that way.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://blahaj.zone/notes/alwn3ej0btsr021khttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://blahaj.zone/notes/alwn3ej0btsr021kTue, 05 May 2026 20:22:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 19:53:45 GMT]]>@tbachner It's not for me which I installed via Flatpak. I've left Chrome running for the past few hours and executed:

% find / -type f -name weights.bin 2> /dev/random

a couple times, with no results.

However, @ferricoxide found it on their machine in ~/.config/google-chrome/

YMMV.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/atoponce/statuses/116523717485395537https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://fosstodon.org/users/atoponce/statuses/116523717485395537Tue, 05 May 2026 19:53:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 19:51:04 GMT]]>@atoponce Which OS? Chrome under Linux affected?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://ruhr.social/users/tbachner/statuses/116523706904520667https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://ruhr.social/users/tbachner/statuses/116523706904520667Tue, 05 May 2026 19:51:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 19:50:01 GMT]]>@atoponce Is this news? It's over a year old. IIRC, it's designed to reduce the amount of data sent off-machine. They were talking about space consumption in Canary release in Feb of 2025 (https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/chrome-ai-dev-preview-discuss/c/PhgjQg4IoQk)

Looking for all the models that have been downloaded for cache in browser, it's not just limited to one. chrome://on-device-internals/

You can use the Tools tab to 'Load Default' model, then type your prompt in the box below. It's slower than a cloud-based response.

Ask 'how to spell "incorriggable" and it takes 2 seconds to spit out: The correct spelling is incorrigible.

Takes 10 more seconds to explain each part of the word.

Then it crashes.

I'd rather handle spell checks on-box than send every word up to a cloud service.

But, don't ask it what the range of radio delay is between the earth and the moon. Highest Quality says 2.5 milliseconds, and crashes. Fastest inference says 22 seconds, and crashes. Not usable.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/hal8999/statuses/116523702747341835https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/hal8999/statuses/116523702747341835Tue, 05 May 2026 19:50:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Google Chrome is silently installing a local LLM on your computer that is 4 gigabytes in size. on Tue, 05 May 2026 19:29:41 GMT]]>@rodneylives @mgorny @atoponce

I still have a backup phone like that

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://functional.cafe/users/xgqt/statuses/116523622838648949https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://functional.cafe/users/xgqt/statuses/116523622838648949Tue, 05 May 2026 19:29:41 GMT