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Posted by john-doe 9 hours ago

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent(www.thatprivacyguy.com)
686 points | 520 commentspage 6
drcongo 7 hours ago|
I can't read the article (503) but does anyone know why someone calling themselves thatprivacyguy is installing Google Chrome?
a96 6 hours ago|
Maybe in order to document a privacy problem with it that they heard about.
kotaKat 7 hours ago||
Why the hell can't this just be an extension in the first place? Why does it have to be bolted in by default? Why does Google and by extension its employees have this constant need to assault and violate me with this garbage?
nsonha 8 hours ago||
it also installs an entire remote desktop stack on your computer without consent, and video codecs, and pdf reader... what is new here?
TH3F4llen1 5 hours ago||
That's crazy just another reason I've been degoogling my phone.
kshmir 4 hours ago||
Besides the numbers being stupidly overblown, this post shows why Europe is in a unstoppable death spiral.
ulfw 6 hours ago||
I can't for the life of me understand how this browser has become the world's most used. It's literally from an ad company.
PufPufPuf 8 hours ago||
If only there was an orange canine coming to help us
Markoff 4 hours ago|
...or some Italian composer
cubefox 8 hours ago||
I thought using local rather than cloud AI was pretty universally agreed to be good?
wartywhoa23 8 hours ago||
The universally agreed upon good is leaving the choice to use AI or not to the end user.
pjc50 6 hours ago|||
There is a secret, third option.
cubefox 5 hours ago||
https://c.tenor.com/odyVsZbC-OYAAAAC/tenor.gif
zekrioca 7 hours ago||
Except these weights are barely used. Read the article.
cubefox 7 hours ago||
Thanks for reminding, it was a moment of weakness. Here is the relevant quote:

> the features that do use the local model (Help-Me-Write in <textarea>, tab-group AI suggestions, smart paste, page summary) are buried in textarea-context menus and tab-group right-click menus

simianwords 7 hours ago||
Sorry but the whole climate angle on this is extremely stupid and needs to be challenged. I have noticed this new phenomenon of people using climate as a trump card to oppose any thing they don’t like.

The thing about these kind of arguments is that any economic activity or any sort of action involves some load on climate. The magnitudes are important.

In this case: a single hamburger does the same amount of emissions as 50 such downloads. What’s really the point of this kind of virtue signalling?

whywhywhywhy 6 hours ago||
> In this case: a single hamburger does the same amount of emissions as 50 such downloads

Hamburger is usually held up as a grotesque example in climate talk and can't be consumed with a clear conscious so are downloads insanely worse than we thought or is a hamburger not even in the same realm of climate damage as usually claimed.

simianwords 1 hour ago||
Both are not too consequential and downloads even more so
potatototoo99 7 hours ago||
There is consumer demand for hamburgers. There is no consumer demand for AI, hence how egregious that it also comes with negative externalities.
newtonsmethod 7 hours ago||
I have to tell you something: there is consumer demand for AI.
pjc50 6 hours ago||
We'll never know, since companies seem determined to make it non-optional.
shmeeed 5 hours ago||
I for one would love to see someone try and shove hamburgers down everybody's throats in order to increase consumer demand.
flanked-evergl 8 hours ago|
This is a bit disingenuous. If you install Chrome, you install Chrome and all it's parts. They don't ask your consent for individual parts because that would be absurd. If you don't want Chrome and all its parts, don't use it.
mft_ 7 hours ago||
If I install Chrome, I expect it to take a few hundred MBs and then only take up additional space in a controlled and transparent manner - for its cache, for example. For me, secretly adding 4GB after installation is a bit too much.

If you're okay with 4GB being added, where would you draw a line? What if it downloaded a 40GB file? 400GB?

flanked-evergl 5 hours ago||
Personally I draw the line where Chrome becomes worse than alternatives, and then I switch.

Lately Firefox has been getting better, but I still prefer Chrome for almost all my needs, so I stick to it. This barely even makes a difference to me. If it was 400GB however it would make a difference to me, and I would make more of an effort to switch to something else.

Markoff 4 hours ago||
I fail to see scenario where Chrome is better than almost any Chromium alternative with exemption of Google account sync.
flanked-evergl 4 hours ago||
Then you don't have to use it.
Markoff 35 minutes ago||
I was just curious why would anyone use Chrome over other superior Chromium alternatives (Vivaldi, Brave, etc.) other than Google account syncing (which I can understand can be pretty big deal for many).
circuit10 2 hours ago|||
This is not a reasonable size for something that's "just another part of Chrome", this blows up the file size by many times
SwellJoe 8 hours ago||
Chrome is the default browser on Android.
yoz-y 8 hours ago||
One would imagine that the model could be shared on Android and not be part of chrome. Maybe this way it’s simpler or is compatible with regulations.
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