Comment by newsoftheday
17 hours ago
This is what I've done after spending some time to look into it, this is for Linux Desktop:
Delete Chrome's silent 4 GB AI model file and AI
In Chrome, go to: chrome://flags
Search for and Disable these:
Enables optimization guide on device
Prompt API for Gemini Nano
AI Mode
Open DevTools (F12 or Ctrl+Shift+I).
Click the Settings (gear icon).
Go to AI Innovations and uncheck Enable AI assistance.
For Linux, in a bash shell, this should prevent Chrome from trying to download the file again because the root user instead of my user, will own the file/directory.
sudo rm -rf ~/.config/google-chrome/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
sudo rm -rf ~/.config/googlechrome/Default/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
sudo touch ~/.config/google-chrome/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
sudo chmod 400 ~/.config/google-chrome/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
sudo touch ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
sudo chmod 400 ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
In case they already existed from doing the above previously, make sure root user owns them.
sudo chown root:root ~/.config/google-chrome/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
sudo chown root:root ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
List to check them.
ls -l ~/.config/google-chrome/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
ls -l ~/.config/google-chrome/Default/OptGuideOnDeviceModel
That's a lot of steps compared to using a browser that doesn't treat your computer as their property.
DevTools uses a server side model, and only after you opt in with explicit consent.
Or accidentally trigger it because you're using a key binding you've used for 15 years that, upon hitting an unexpected consent screen, triggers the consent button.
FWIW, first two sections worked for Chrome on Windows.