GoKawiilGoogle Chrome’s “weights.bin” file has been gathering a lot of attention, particularly for its forced, inexplicable, and inescapable nature. This file is responsible for on-device Gemini Nano features and is actually good for your privacy, but users have been looking for ways to opt out of these features, delete the file, and stop it from being redownloaded.
Google makes it easy to disable this file and its associated features, but ironically, this setting isn’t available to all users. If you’re wondering how you can get rid of Chrome’s “weights.bin” file, here are the steps you need to follow!
What do you plan to do with Chrome's Gemini Nano folder? 20 votes Keep it. I want the privacy benefits and AI features. 5 % Delete it. I don't use AI and/or I need that 4GB of storage back immediately. 75 % Wait and see. I’ll keep it for now but might delete it later if I need the space. 20 %
How to disable Chrome’s on-device AI features: The easy way Google says it began rolling out the ability for users to easily turn off and remove the model directly in Chrome settings in February. Once disabled, the Gemini Nano model will no longer download or update, so you won’t have a large “weights.bin” file hogging space on your computer anymore — with the caveat that features that rely on the deleted models will no longer work.
If you’re okay with the trade-off, here are the steps to follow: Open the Chrome browser on your computer. Navigate to Settings > System. Disable “On-device AI.” This will disable the feature and automatically delete the weights.bin file that Chrome downloads, as Reddit user Laicure shows us:
As simple as this toggle is, and despite Google’s claims, it’s actually not available to many users.
How to disable Chrome’s on-device AI features: The alternate way If you don’t have the toggle in Chrome, you must first tell the browser to stop fetching the model, and then delete the files.
Step 1: Disable the Chrome Flags Open Google Chrome, type chrome://flags into your URL address bar, and press the Enter key on your keyboard.
into your URL address bar, and press the key on your keyboard. In the search bar at the top, search for “ optimization-guide-on-device-model .”
.” When the #optimization-guide-on-device-model flag appears, click the dropdown menu on the right and select “Disabled.”
... continue reading