How to Disable Google’s Gemini in Chrome
If you use Google’s Chrome browser for desktop, there’s a small AI model called Gemini Nano running on your computer. It started downloading automatically in 2024, taking up about 4 GB of space. This is not 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 Gemini Nano File
A report by the Privacy Guy this week highlighted how unaware many users were of its presence. The difficulty in keeping up with all the AI services and features across the tech industry might be part of the reason.
- To uninstall the Gemini Nano file, open Chrome on your computer, click the “More” menu represented by three vertical dots in the top right corner, then go to Settings, System, and finally toggle “On-device AI” off. 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 to allow users to turn off the features if they choose and remove the model. Once disabled, the model will no longer download or update.
Google built Gemini Nano into Chrome to enable on-device AI scam-detection features. It was 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.
Parisa Tabriz, Chrome’s general manager, 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.”
User Awareness and Privacy Concerns
A Google spokesperson also told 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.”
Google certainly did announce the Gemini Nano integration into Chrome and discussed it publicly; however, 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.
Alternatives
Local processing is a more private way to utilize AI capabilities. If you remove the model, the features Google uses it for—including 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.
Of course, if neither option seems right, there’s always an alternative: Use a different browser.
Key Takeaways
- The Gemini Nano AI model runs on your computer and takes up about 4 GB of space.
- To disable it, you need to toggle “On-device AI” off in Chrome’s settings.
- Removing the Gemini Nano file may have unintended consequences for non-Google web services.
- Avoiding this feature altogether is an option if local processing is preferred and privacy concerns are of primary importance.
Originally published at wired.com. Curated by AI Maestro.
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