Google Chrome 'silently' downloads 4GB AI model to your device without permission, report claims — researcher says practice may violate EU law, waste thousands of kilowatts of energy
2026-05-06 · r/ArtificialInteligence
Google Chrome has been quietly shoving a 4GB AI model onto users' devices without asking — because why would you need consent to hijack someone's storage and bandwidth? A researcher flagged the practice as a potential EU law violation, noting it could waste thousands of kilowatts of energy across millions of devices. Nothing says 'Don't Be Evil' like secretly filling your hard drive with AI bloatware.