Google Chrome’s VP clears the air on the criticism over Chrome’s storage usage for on-device AI
Recently, various reports have been surfacing online which reveals that Google Chrome now silently installs 4GB worth of AI models (Gemini Nano), without informing the users about it. A few users have also claimed that deleting the on-device AI model leads to it being downloaded again when the browser restarts.
This has sparked concerns among users online. Google Chrome’s VP, Parisa Tabriz, has today cleared the air about this criticism over Chrome’s storage usage for on-device AI.
She mentioned that Gemini Nano for Chrome has been offered since 2024. It powers important security capabilities like on-device scam detection and developer APIs without sending your data to the cloud.
Further, she explained that while this on-device AI model requires local space on the desktop to run, the model will automatically uninstall if the device is low on resources.
On-device Generative AI models enable Chrome to perform AI-powered tasks directly on your device. These models might be used on features such as:
- Help with writing or rephrasing text
- Warn you about scams
- Summarise web pages
- Organise your tabs
For these models to work on your device, Chrome downloads and stores them on your device.
About the deletion and re-download of the on-device AI model, Google Chrome’s help center page mentions that if you delete on-device AI models, only features that rely on them will be unavailable.
Deleting the model will free up storage space on your device. To use features that rely on on-device models again, turn on the setting. Re-enabling the setting will allow for the download of AI models. This requires an internet connection, and the time to complete depends on the file size and your connection speed.
