Chrome's new off switch removes the 4GB on-device AI download — manual deletion won't

Three months after Chrome silently pushed a roughly 4GB on-device AI model onto users' PCs, the browser's support page now spells out the rules — and ships a working off switch.

Google expanded the Chrome On-device AI help page between July 29 and August 1, 2026, adding four sections: eligibility requirements, download conditions, multi-user and multi-device guidance, and enterprise rules. The change shows up in a Wayback Machine diff of the support page against the July 29 snapshot.

To receive the model, a device needs the right hardware, an unmetered internet connection, and roughly 20GB of free disk space — the 4GB model plus overhead. The "On-device AI" toggle in Chrome settings is the only supported way to manage the download: flipping it off removes the model files and disables dependent features, and turning it back on re-runs the eligibility check. The page also warns against manually deleting the model files, which will not stop Chrome from re-downloading them. Behavior is per-user and per-device; IT admins get separate control via Chrome Enterprise Policy.

The new docs land months after Chrome was first observed silently putting a roughly 4GB Gemini Nano model on users' machines, with a Chrome executive telling WindowsReport the next day the work was core to a "developer & security strategy" and that the model processes data locally.