this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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Fuck AI

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AI, in this case, refers to LLMs, GPT technology, and anything listed as "AI" meant to increase market valuations.

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Cross-Posted, via Technology Community.

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.

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[–] Tartufo@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This reminds me of back when I first tried Chrome some many years back. I didn't like it so I uninstalled it and a few days later it was back again without me having done anything other than shutting down & restarting my PC. Had to dig deep into parts you don't ever need to touch for a normal uninstall to get rid of it for good and vowed to never install Chrome again because this is peak virus behaviour. Stuck with Firefox through it's absolute lowest performance because of this, too.

Now I do have to deal with Chrome at work and I really hate it. Sadly the CEO loves Chrome so what can you do...

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

If you're on windows, check the task scheduler. There are, by default, some update tasks that get installed when you first install chrome.

[–] Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Certain websites are utter garbage if you don't use chrome. I work from time to time with the American Bureau of Shipping and even with a user agent switcher, firefox outright doesn't load. I already don't like ABS but this makes them even more irritating to deal with.

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

This is all part of Google's long winded plan of destroying open browsing standards.

For those sites, I just close them and move on and use another. I do that with any site that is total shit or loaded with garbage fly out menus and paywalls and the like. See ya.

[–] Tartufo@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

If it's a shop: idc, if they refuse to work with other browsers they clearly don't want my money.

If it's some form of authority: I have zero issues with escalating the problem by demanding they give me a paper version of whatever instead. I'm not living in the US, so I'm (still) able to pull this.

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

if you really need to use the site, chromium-based foss browsers like ungoogled chromium exist so you can avoid google chrome.