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

[PinkPugPrincess]

I saw this on Bulbagarden. Good thing I use DuckDuckGo as my default browser app on my iPhone and iPad, though I'm going to try Quiche Browser soon. Just thought I'd leave this here as some web browsers and search engines are spyware. I have posted this exact same thread on SpongeBuddy Mania.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

Honestly, the moment Google attempted to get rid of adblockers such as ublock Origin is the main reason people should ditch Chrome for another browser. I still use Firefox, even in spite of its AI controversy (something you can just opt out of anyway).

 

[Hint Toad]

Gemini isn't that smart to begin with, so having a distilled version of it sounds awful. Not worth the precious space on my computer.

 

[Salmancer]

Well, this is deeply unpleasant. I've been short on PC space for a while and I think this has something to do with it.

(Aside from that, how in the ever loving heck would slightly increasing AI response time make people who would not opt into a model download want to use said model? Is there any value in this plan at all?)

 

[Xiahou Ba]

Gemini is pretty damn powerful, tbh, especially Nano Banana 2. It outright recognized Baby Luigi in one of my images when I read what it's thinking and it recognizes what is a character is and can change the facial expressions on characters very well. I've been adapting my Gmod scenes and applying cool looking filters using its img2img function and I am so pleased with the result.

The big issue we all have is that this is forced onto people, regardless of interest in the tools or not. By default, people should not be automatically sent to download 4 GB of an app that they don't want to use. I personally like using Gemini Nano Banana's img2img generation, but the key thing here is that I willingly chose to use it. Obviously, reception is mixed around here, there are valid ethical concerns surrounding the big picture, and I will respect people's choices to not get involved in it, and I am honestly so tired of big companies forcing bloatware onto people. This isn't really specifically about AI in general but about, like, every time you have a fresh Windows install, Microsoft loves shoveling its pointless bloatware onto you and really wants you to use Copilot, despite me having no use for it (I will stick with one tool and that's mostly image generation!) or Google's stupid AI overview that I almost never trust.

 

[Hint Toad]

Gemini is pretty damn powerful, tbh, especially Nano Banana 2. It outright recognized Baby Luigi in one of my images when I read what it's thinking and it recognizes what is a character is and can change the facial expressions on characters very well. I've been adapting my Gmod scenes and applying cool looking filters using its img2img function and I am so pleased with the result.

Those pictures look awesome! I personally use AI for coding. Specifically Codex. Haven't really used AI that much for image generation. My brother tells me all the latest news on AI and I remember him telling me Gemini wasn't the best model to use for coding or something.

 

[Xiahou Ba]

The most I had done with coding was asking ChatGPT to help me find issues with a mod in the Sims 4. It's written in Python and I know nothing about it, but it led me to eventually fixing it. I don't like using ChatGPT much though because it's extremely restrictive when it comes to doing image things, especially with copyrighted characters, it's why I switched to Gemini in the first place.

 

[Hint Toad]

The most I had done with coding was asking ChatGPT to help me find issues with a mod in the Sims 4. It's written in Python and I know nothing about it, but it led me to eventually fixing it. I don't like using ChatGPT much though because it's extremely restrictive when it comes to doing image things, especially with copyrighted characters, it's why I switched to Gemini in the first place.

Yeah. It doesn't let you do copyrighted stuff. I even tried using it to translate a rulebook from an old Japanese Mario board game. Took a screen shot of a page and it didn't want to spit back a translated image in English. Probably due to Mario's image being plastered everywhere on the page. It's crazy how smart it is at coding. I coded a game for the Playdate. (which will be releasing in a couple weeks.) But the game was too laggy so I had Codex take a crack at it and it was able to speed things up to a consistent 30 FPS. Which is a normal speed for the Playdate.