Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is identical to the Anthropic Claude Desktop case I wrote about last month, but the scale is between two and three orders of magnitude larger. This article does the legal analysis and, for the first time, the environmental analysis. The numbers are not small.
It was a philosophical question posed about a technical matter.
Okay, succinctness aside, I get that you’re trying to imply that the kind of person who still uses Chrome is basically asking to be mistreated (I think?) - but the author’s point about climate impact depends on user count, not user personality.
That is a technical response to a philosophical question.
It was a philosophical question posed about a technical matter.
Okay, succinctness aside, I get that you’re trying to imply that the kind of person who still uses Chrome is basically asking to be mistreated (I think?) - but the author’s point about climate impact depends on user count, not user personality.