Chrome Pushing AI Model Files

Posted by dclauch1990@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 26 comments

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent.

Got linked this story by a friend. I can't be the only one thinking how insane this AI bubble is getting that they're now forcing this down onto people's devices.

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 [5].

Check your flags and configs, comrades! Anyone run into this in the field yet?

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FearlessAwareness469@reddit

I just ripped this trash out of my org with intune after seeing it was on my device. heres a list of things i just turned off org wide.

Settings for AI-powered History Search

Settings for AI-powered History Search (User)

Settings for Create Themes with AI

Settings for Create Themes with AI (User)

Settings for DevTools Generative AI Features

Settings for DevTools Generative AI Features (User)

Settings for enhanced autofill

Settings for enhanced autofill (User)

Settings for Gemini integration

Settings for Gemini integration (User)

Settings for GenAI local foundational model

Settings for GenAI local foundational model (User)Settings for Google's AI Mode integrations in the address bar and New Tab page search box.

Settings for Google's AI Mode integrations in the address bar and New Tab page search box. (User)

Settings for Help Me Write

Settings for Help Me Write (User)

Tab Compare settings

Tab Compare settings (User)

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ma-lar@reddit

I just did the same! Is there a way to disable AI search results in Bing and Google for Chrome and Edge?

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Just updated to the latest Windows chrome binary and this model is nowhere to be found. Sounds like there's some sort of opt-in to actually download it and this is pure sensationalist clickbait nonsense. Especially with the wild, baseless environmental claims

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darguskelen@reddit

It’s definitely not optin. It goes into the users data folder. And at least on Mac this flag doesn’t work, I’ve been fighting to turn it off for a few months on a storage constrained device. It keeps coming back.

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Mindestiny@reddit

There's a setting somewhere that's governing this that is not turned on by default, or you're downloading a different Chrome binary or something. I've tested it on four separate machines now and this 4GB unprompted AI model is nowhere to be found.

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darguskelen@reddit

C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\OptGuideOnDeviceModel\2025.8.8.1141

It's here on my Windows machine that I absolutely never opted in for and have turned off as many AI features as I could. Similar location on a mac in ~/Library

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secret_configuration@reddit

Not seeing this being pushed down in our environment. We did go ahead and disable it through GPO anyway.

I think the main issue here is that they pushed this down without an opt-in. This should have been something exposed in the UI, and disabled by default.

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smartdark@reddit

Any detection on android devices?

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dclauch1990@reddit (OP)

I haven't seen any myself, nor do I see any mention of Android in the source articles at the bottom of the OP article.

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JerikkaDawn@reddit

The file appeared with no consent prompt. There is no checkbox in Chrome Settings labelled "download a 4 GB AI model". The download triggers when Chrome's AI features are active, and those features are active by default in recent Chrome versions. On any machine that meets the hardware requirements, Chrome treats the user's hardware as a delivery target and writes the model.

User intentionally downloaded a browser being advertised with AI features and the installer installed required components for these features to work. I didn't get a consent dialog for every dll required by the mp3 player I purposely installed either.

The cycle of deletion and re-download has been documented across multiple independent reports on Windows installations [5][6][7][8] - the user deletes, Chrome re-downloads, the user deletes again, Chrome re-downloads again.

User deletes required components of the browser they chose to download and the application repaired itself because users expect applications to work.

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 [5].

"that home users do not generally have" -- scare phrase. The same sentence says chrome://flags works, which home users have.

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illicITparameters@reddit

A bit of a braindead take considering how many orgs deployed Chrome way before this shit.

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mnvoronin@reddit

I wish I could upvote it 10 times.

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Frothyleet@reddit

At Chrome's scale, the climate bill for one model push, paid in atmospheric CO2 by the entire planet, is between six thousand and sixty thousand tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions, depending on how many devices receive the push. That is the environmental cost of one company unilaterally deciding that two billion peoples' default browser will mass-distribute a 4 GB binary they did not request.

I would really like to see the math on this one.

Setting that aside, I don't think this train of thought works very well. OK, a Chrome patch included 4GB of payload the author felt was unjustified. Exactly who is going to police how large updates are allowed to be compared to their climate impact? Plenty of video game downloads these days are absolutely massive, whether because of uncompressed textures or unnecessarily including language packs or whatever - how much damage have they done?

Note that I'm actually fervently in favor of quantifying the environmental costs corporations are dropping onto the backs of the rest of the world via carbon taxation, at a minimum. So I don't hate the energy, I just don't think OP is exactly fighting the right demon.

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