Gizmodo reports that the Chrome browser installs a roughly 4-gigabyte local model in a folder named OptGuideOnDeviceModel, and that the file weights.bin corresponds to Gemini Nano, according to Google’s comments to Gizmodo. The reporter used a third-party site, ChromeAI.org, to run the built-in model in a ChatGPT-style interface after enabling experimental flags, then disconnected Wi-Fi and exercised the model offline. Gizmodo found the on-device Gemini Nano runs quickly on modest hardware but hallucinates frequently, producing both correct answers (for example, “Ouagadougou”) and invented facts. Gizmodo also links the ChromeAI.org interface to an origin traced to a group identifying from Shanghai.
