How to Disable Google’s Gemini in Chrome
If you use Google’s Chrome browser on your desktop, there might be a hidden AI model running on your computer called Gemini Nano. This nano-size AI model is integrated into the browser and takes up about 4 GB of space, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if you didn’t know about it and don’t want it, there’s a way to turn it off.
The integration started in Chrome users in 2024 when Google added Gemini Nano. However, a report by That Privacy Guy this week and the subsequent reception highlighted how unaware many users were—perhaps due to the flood of AI services and features across the tech industry that have been difficult for users to keep up with.
How to Uninstall Gemini Nano
- To uninstall the Gemini Nano file, open Chrome on your computer. In the top right corner, click the “More” menu represented by three vertical dots, then go to Settings and toggle off “On-device AI.” The Privacy Guy article noted that if you directly uninstall the Gemini Nano file in the directory, Chrome will silently redownload it the next time the browser reboots.
A Google spokesperson tells WIRED that the company started rolling out the On-device AI toggle in February so users can turn off the features if they choose and remove the model. “Once disabled, the model will no longer download or update,” the spokesperson says in a statement. The company also added that the system is designed so Gemini Nano “will automatically uninstall if the device is low on resources.”
What Gemini Nano Means for Makers and Artists
To use local processing, Google integrated Gemini Nano into Chrome to enable on-device AI scam-detection features. It also aimed at providing a way for developers to integrate AI-related application programming interfaces while keeping data on users’ devices when possible and out of the cloud. These features are separate from Chrome’s AI Mode, which does not use the local Gemini Nano model.
Chrome’s general manager, Parisa Tabriz, emphasized in a post on X that integrating Gemini Nano “powers important security capabilities like on-device scam detection and developer APIs without sending your data to the cloud.”
The Disadvantages of Removing Gemini Nano
- Blocking the integration could have outcomes when interacting with non-Google web services in the browser, as certain security features may not be available.
- If you remove the model, the AI-enabled scam detection will cease to function. However, since Gemini Nano is also used by Chrome to enable local AI processing for third-party developers, blocking this route could have a range of outcomes.
Longtime security and compliance consultant Davi Ottenheimer says that he follows Chrome updates closely but could have easily missed the Gemini Nano integration. “An on-device model could be a hidden minefield,” he says. And the fact that Google launched the integration in 2024 but didn’t start rolling out a settings control for users to turn it off until February shows that, at least initially, the feature wasn’t conceived as something that users would interact with.
Alternatives
- If neither option seems right, there’s always an alternative: Use a different browser.
Key Takeaways
- The Gemini Nano AI model is integrated into Chrome and takes up about 4 GB of space.
- To uninstall the Gemini Nano file, users need to toggle off “On-device AI” in Chrome settings.
- Removing Gemini Nano could have outcomes when interacting with non-Google web services in the browser.
Originally published at wired.com. Curated by AI Maestro.
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