How to Disable Google’s Gemini in Chrome
If you use Google’s Chrome browser for desktop, there might be a small AI model named Gemini Nano running on your computer right now 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.
The file started auto-downloading for Chrome users in 2024 after Google built Gemini Nano into the browser. However, a report by That Privacy Guy this week highlighted how unaware many users were—perhaps a result of a 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, System, and toggle “On-device AI” off.
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 added, too, that the system is designed so Gemini Nano “will automatically uninstall if the device is low on resources.”
What Google Built with Gemini Nano
- The model was built into Chrome to enable on-device AI scam-detection features.
- It also provided 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 Impact of Turning Off On-Device AI
- Removing Gemini Nano from Chrome doesn’t mean you necessarily should—or that doing so is better for your privacy.
- 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.
- 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.”
Just because you can remove Gemini Nano from Chrome doesn’t mean you necessarily should—or that doing so is better for your privacy.
Alternatives
- 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 in Chrome and takes up about 4 GB of space.
- To uninstall the Gemini Nano file, you need to toggle “On-device AI” off in Chrome’s settings.
- Removing the model might make certain security features unavailable and change how non-Google web services behave in the browser.
- Using a different browser is always an option if neither option seems right for your privacy preferences.
Originally published at wired.com. Curated by AI Maestro.
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