Google Chrome secretly installs 4GB AI model
Google Chrome has been silently installing a 4GB AI model called Gemini Nano on users devices without consent, a researcher found.Researcher Alexander Hanff documented Chrome secretly downloading a 4GB AI model called Gemini Nano to eligible devices without user notification or consent.The model reinstalls itself automatically if users delete it, and Chrome does not offer an opt-out prompt during installation.Hanff argues the practice likely violates the EUs ePrivacy Directive and GDPR, raising legal questions that have not yet been tested in court. Google Chrome is silently installing a 4GB AI model on users devices without consent, a researcher found. Privacy researcher and computer scientist Alexander Hanff documented the installation after discovering that a Chrome profile he created for automated privacy audits had accumulated 4GB of model files called weights.bin inside a folder named OptGuideOnDeviceModel, despite receiving zero human input at any point. The model is Google‘s Gemini Nano, a lightweight on-device large language model. Hanff’s evidence chain shows Chrome downloading the 4GB file in 14 minutes and 28 seconds on April 24, 2026, without a consent prompt, without a settings notification, and without a checkbox. The file reinstalls automatically when restarted after deletion, according to multiple independent reports across Windows, macOS, and Linux. What