Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

thatprivacyguy.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 1001 posts

Re: Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

#83

Post by heavyset_go »

CalRobert wrote: post #43
dotcoma wrote: post #10

Why use a browser from Google or Microsoft in 2026? Why in the world?

I have no idea but when I mention Firefox my colleagues under 35 or so literally think I'm joking.

They've been consuming 15+ years of anti-Mozilla rants anytime it or Firefox are mentioned online.

It's how you get things like "Browser monocultures are an issue, so don't use Chrome (Blink), use Brave (Chromium (Blink)) instead!" said in earnest.

Re: Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

#84

Post by sigmoid10 »

Jleagle wrote: post #56
tthu1 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a lot of traffic to you? 2.5 million downloads of 4 GB are 10 PB of traffic. I think there are be a lot more than 2.5 million Chrome users in the world.

You only download it when some JS requests it for the first time, most people will never have it.

Do you think this will not be part of some google product? On top of their normal agenda, this seems perfectly suited for them to push their AI models. So if you use anything from Google via Chrome, I would expect that this will end up on your device sooner or later.

Re: Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

#85

Post by utopiah »

k_bx wrote: post #22
dotcoma wrote: post #10

Why use a browser from Google or Microsoft in 2026? Why in the world?

I use Chrome because at Google Meet it renders a nice separate window with mute/unmute controls as you switch to another tab and screen share. Curious if Google plans to allow other browsers doing that too.

You could use Chromium just for Google Meet. That's what I do. I have Chromium relatively up to date that I basically solely use when I need to. It can be Google Meet, or Teams, or whatever was purposely botched in order NOT to work with Firefox, basically sabotage, but it can also be very rare cases like Lego Spike or GrapheneOS Web installer which require WebUSB.

99.99% I do not need Chromium but when I do, it's worth the ~200MB of used space.

Re: Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

#86

Post by StingyJelly »

sevenzero wrote: post #58
StingyJelly wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brave origin on linux looks pretty solid now. Now I'm using that and Librewolf.

I just checked it out, but it removes Tor access? It would pretty much downgrade the regular browser

I think using tor in brave just makes you stand out more - stock tor browser is probably a better setup. Whonix even better.

Re: Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

#87

Post by tomtomtom777 »

lmf4lol wrote: post #68
elashri wrote: post #40

[flagged]

I am using Firefox for years now. It's such a splendid experience. I can recommend the following extensions: - Youtube Enhancer - DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials - Cookie Auto Decline (a MUST for Europeans) - Slop Evader - No Gender (a MUST for Germans) Its a totally different browsing experience than what most people have. I recently watched my kiddo looking something up with Edge on her laptop. I had to interfere and…

Can you explain what the "No Gender" extension is about and why it is a must?

Re: Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

#88

Post by MaKey »

lmf4lol wrote: post #68
elashri wrote: post #40

[flagged]

I am using Firefox for years now. It's such a splendid experience. I can recommend the following extensions: - Youtube Enhancer - DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials - Cookie Auto Decline (a MUST for Europeans) - Slop Evader - No Gender (a MUST for Germans) Its a totally different browsing experience than what most people have. I recently watched my kiddo looking something up with Edge on her laptop. I had to interfere and…

For me the most important extension is uBlock Origin. It's worth switching to Firefox for this alone.

Re: Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

#89

Post by airstrike »

ranger_danger wrote: post #80
dwedge wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh is this the browser by that company that are funded half a billion dollars a year by Google and want to become an advertising company[1] and wants their browser to become a modern AI browser[2]? [1] https://www.jwz.org/blog/2024/10/mozillas-ceo-doubles-down-o... [2] https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/leadership/mozillas-next...

Please feel free to suggest a better alternative.

FWIW I've recently moved from Firefox to Helium after 10+ years.

Yes, I hate that it's also Chromium, but no, there aren't real alternatives.

Re: Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent

#90

Post by qsera »

lmf4lol wrote: post #68
elashri wrote: post #40

[flagged]

I am using Firefox for years now. It's such a splendid experience. I can recommend the following extensions: - Youtube Enhancer - DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials - Cookie Auto Decline (a MUST for Europeans) - Slop Evader - No Gender (a MUST for Germans) Its a totally different browsing experience than what most people have. I recently watched my kiddo looking something up with Edge on her laptop. I had to interfere and…

Firefox added split view where you can look at two (or more) webpages side by side. This is a lifesaver when you have to fill up a form looking up stuff from another page!
Post reply on HN