Google Chrome Under Scrutiny for Covertly Installing 4GB Local AI Model on User Devices
1 day ago / Read about 0 minute
Author:小编   

Recently, a number of Google Chrome users have stumbled upon an issue where the browser silently downloaded a hefty 4GB worth of local AI model files (specifically, weights.bin) onto their devices. This download occurred without any explicit prompts or user authorization, and it was carried out to facilitate features related to Gemini Nano. By default, these files are stored on the C drive, which not only eats up valuable disk space but also leads to an abnormal surge in disk read/write operations. To reclaim some of that lost space, users can navigate to chrome://flags/ in the Chrome address bar, disable the two experimental flags labeled 'EnablesOptimizationGuideOnDevice' and 'PromptAPI', and then proceed to manually delete the aforementioned file. This covert action by Google Chrome has sparked significant concerns among users regarding privacy and adherence to compliance standards.