How to Disable Google’s Gemini in Chrome
If you use Google’s Chrome browser for desktop, there’s a high chance that a Gemini Nano AI model is running on your computer and taking up about 4 GB of space. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if you didn’t know about it and don’t want it, there’s a way to turn it off.
What It Means for Makers and Artists
The file started auto-downloading for Chrome users in 2024 after Google integrated Gemini Nano into the browser. However, a report by The Privacy Guy this week and the ensuing reception highlighted how unaware many users were—perhaps due to a flood of AI services and features across the tech industry that have been difficult for users to keep up with.
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, System, and toggle “On-device AI” to be off. The Privacy Guy article noted that if you directly uninstall the Gemini Nano file in the directory, Chrome will silently, automatically 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.”
“Google built the model into Chrome to enable important security capabilities like on-device scam detection and developer APIs without sending your data to the cloud,” emphasizes Chrome’s general manager, Parisa Tabriz, in a post on X.
Google certainly did announce the Gemini Nano integration into Chrome and discussed it publicly, but for users who simply use Chrome because it is the world’s biggest, most recognizable browser and don’t necessarily follow every granular update, the lack of an in-your-face notification about a large AI model file sitting and running on your computer may be upsetting.
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.
Local processing is a more private way to utilize AI capabilities. If you remove the model, the features Google uses it for—such as the AI-enabled scam detection—will cease to function. But 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 when interacting with non-Google web services in the browser.
A Google spokesperson tells WIRED that if you turn off On-device AI, “certain security features will not be available, and sites that use the on device APIs will behave differently.”
Of course, if neither option seems right, there’s always an alternative: Use a different browser.
Key Takeaways
- The Gemini Nano AI model could be running on your computer without you knowing it.
- To disable the Gemini Nano feature, turn off “On-device AI” in Chrome settings.
- Local processing is a more private way to utilize AI capabilities but may affect interactions with non-Google web services.
Originally published at wired.com. Curated by AI Maestro.
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