Chrome downloads a 4GB AI file without user consent, researcher alleges
Key takeaways
- Photo by Zulfugar Karimov on Unsplash If you've paid any attention to Google lately, you know that it wants us using its AI tools.
- I just verified what he said about the file, named "weights.bin" and found itin the Chrome folder in the macOS Library directory (which is ordinarily hidden so that users don't mess with potentially critical files).
- It's worth noting that on a second Mac I checked, the weights.bin file was not installed, nor was it found on a coworker's laptop.
Photo by Zulfugar Karimov on Unsplash If you've paid any attention to Google lately, you know that it wants us using its AI tools. So much so that Chrome apparently downloads a 4GB file containing details for running Gemini Nano, Google's on-device LLM. Computer scientist Alexander Hanff published the details earlier this week on his website The Privacy Guy and goes into extreme detail on why this isn't a good look for Google.
I just verified what he said about the file, named "weights.bin" and found itin the Chrome folder in the macOS Library directory (which is ordinarily hidden so that users don't mess with potentially critical files). Indeed, its a 4+ GB file right where he said it would be. Hanff correctly notes that at no point does Chrome prompt users to ask if they'd like to install the Gemini Nano weights, which Chrome users for AI-powered features like "help me write" and on-device scam detection.
It's worth noting that on a second Mac I checked, the weights.bin file was not installed, nor was it found on a coworker's laptop. Shortly after updating Chrome to version 148.0.7778.97 on my personal laptop, the directory and file appeared. And when I deleted the directory containing the file on the first computer I checked, the large weights.bin file returned several minutes later.