Google Chrome Silently Installs a 4GB Gemini Nano AI Model on Your Device Without Consent — 238 Points, 247 Comments

That Privacy Guy / Hacker News·high signal

A privacy researcher discovered Chrome silently downloading a 4GB Gemini Nano model (weights.bin in OptGuideOnDeviceModel folder) to devices without permission. On a new Chrome profile with zero keyboard/mouse input, the model appeared automatically on April 24. Deleting it triggers re-download. The key deception: Chrome 147's omnibox shows an 'AI Mode' pill that users assume runs locally, but it actually sends every query to Google's cloud servers. At Chrome's billion-device scale, the one-time push costs an estimated 6,000–60,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions.