Google Chrome Downloading 4GB AI Model to Your Device Without Asking, Re-Downloads When You Delete It
May 5th, 2026Firefox has a single kill switch for all AI features. Go to Settings – AI Controls – Toggle on, “Block AI enhancements.”
Via: Techspot:
Google started turning Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser, into an AI browser last year in response to threats from popular AI-native rivals such as OpenAI. Recent reports have uncovered that this transition includes silently installing a large cache of AI weights on an unknown but potentially significant number of devices.
Google Chrome users who have noticed unusual disk activity or unexplained drops in available storage should look for a folder called “OptGuideOnDeviceModel” inside their Chrome directory. It holds roughly 4GB of weights for Google’s Gemini Nano LLM, downloaded by the browser without user consent.
Deleting the folder offers no lasting relief – Chrome will simply redownload it. On Windows 11, the folder resides at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\OptGuideOnDeviceModel. It has also been confirmed on Apple Silicon and Ubuntu machines.
Uninstalling Chrome entirely is the most effective way to remove the weights. However, those who wish to continue using the browser might be able to disable the download by entering “chrome://flags” into the address bar, finding an item called “Enables optimization guide on device on Android,” and selecting “Disabled” from the adjacent dropdown menu. This is also how users can determine whether their device is eligible for the feature.
