4 ms·

It is a small model, so what utility can I / Google expect from it? What is the on-board model used for?

by wuschel 5mo ago

scriptsmith 5mo ago
It's based on Gemma 3n, and it's not the best. I find it works fine for simple classification, translation, interpretation of images & audio. It can write longer prose, but it's pretty bad. It can also write text in the format of a JSON schema or regexp for anything you might want to do with structured data.
- Wowfunhappy 5mo ago
  I wonder why they’re using Gemma 3 and not Gemma 4?
  - andy_ppp 5mo ago
    It'll probably update to that without telling you at some point.
  - scriptsmith 5mo ago
    Google has been trialling the Prompt API in chrome for the over a year, so before Gemma 4 existed. But they are indicating they'll move to Gemma 4: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/iR6R7-nQeHI/m/AM0yj_xTBgAJ https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/iR6R7...
  - dotancohen 5mo ago
    So that the big news in non-tech news sites will be the update. Thus ensuring that this is received in a positive light.
2ndorderthought 5mo ago
It's not a very good small model to be honest. That said, you might be surprised to learn that some of the models from 3b-9b could probably replace 80% of the things nonvibe coders use chatgpt for. Its a good idea to run small models locally if your computer can host them for privacy and cash saving reasons. But how can you trust Google to autoinstall one on your machine in 2026? I just couldn't do it.
- soco 5mo ago
  Which is why I uninstalled Chrome a (short...) while ago and my life went on unbothered.
  - raddan 5mo ago
    I am amused when people fret about not using Chrome. I get it but… I have literally NEVER used Chrome. Perhaps I just don’t know what I am missing but the web seems to work just fine for me without it?
    - Danox 5mo ago
      Touché…
- imglorp 5mo ago
  Sure, local models good and yes, there's no way we can trust Google. We can be positive the entire motivation of Chrome is user behavior surveillance. There's not a nano-chance in all the multiverses that Chrome model is doing anything privately. They've gone to extraordinary length to accomplish this. It's not for free.
  - akoboldfrying 5mo ago
    I don't trust them either, but the same Google makes Gemma 4 available to run as locally and privately as you want, and those models are pretty amazing for their size.
    - imglorp 5mo ago
      Both can be true: they give a nice local model so you find it useful AND the chrome harness captures every token in and out for exfiltration.
  - reactordev 5mo ago
    It is entirely about user surveillance as well as pushing their product on to their users because they have the install base. Google Chrome has become Microsoft IE6 in hostile user behavior.
michaelbuckbee 5mo ago
I ran a fairly large production test of this and on _every_ measure except for privacy it was worse than a free tier server hosted LLM. Not happy about that as I would like to see more local models but that's the current state of things. https://sendcheckit.com/blog/ai-powered-subject-line-alternatives https://sendcheckit.com/blog/ai-powered-subject-line-alterna...
- gchamonlive 5mo ago
  > on _every_ measure except for privacy it was worse than a free tier server hosted LLM Would you be able to compare this to other local models in it's class and a above that would fit consumer-grade hardware?
accrual 5mo ago
> It is a small model, so what utility can I / Google expect from it? Precedence for shipping models alongside consumer software. Potentially without consent if it truly is a silent install.
kevincox 5mo ago
I find models of this size (not tested this one specifically) at being very good at simple data extraction from user input. Think about things like parsing date and time of an event from a description or parsing a human-typed description of a repeating event rule.
hightrix 5mo ago
Something to do with serving more ads. My guess is they will use this to “better target” or to drain more information from you for their ads.
rmac 5mo ago
this is considered a large model. i think you might be surprised how many "small" models chrome has already pulled down on your disk. but to answer your question: one of the services that uses a small model: PermissionsAIv4 """ Use the Permission Predictions Service and the AIv4 model to surface permission notification requests using a quieter UI when the likelihood of the user granting the permission is predicted to be low. Requires `Make Searches and Browsing Better` to be enabled. – Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android """
- nemomarx 5mo ago
  [dead]

It is a small model, so what utility can I / Google expect from it? What is the on-board model used for?

by wuschel 5mo ago

It is a small model, so what utility can I / Google expect from it? What is the on-board model used for?

It's based on Gemma 3n, and it's not the best. I find it works fine for simple classification, translation, interpretation of images & audio. It can write longer prose, but it's pretty bad. It can also write text in the format of a JSON schema or regexp for anything you might want to do with structured data.

Wowfunhappy 5mo ago
I wonder why they’re using Gemma 3 and not Gemma 4?
- andy_ppp 5mo ago
  It'll probably update to that without telling you at some point.
- scriptsmith 5mo ago
  Google has been trialling the Prompt API in chrome for the over a year, so before Gemma 4 existed. But they are indicating they'll move to Gemma 4: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/iR6R7-nQeHI/m/AM0yj_xTBgAJ https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/iR6R7...
- dotancohen 5mo ago
  So that the big news in non-tech news sites will be the update. Thus ensuring that this is received in a positive light.

2ndorderthought 5mo ago

It's not a very good small model to be honest. That said, you might be surprised to learn that some of the models from 3b-9b could probably replace 80% of the things nonvibe coders use chatgpt for. Its a good idea to run small models locally if your computer can host them for privacy and cash saving reasons. But how can you trust Google to autoinstall one on your machine in 2026? I just couldn't do it.

soco 5mo ago
Which is why I uninstalled Chrome a (short...) while ago and my life went on unbothered.
- raddan 5mo ago
  I am amused when people fret about not using Chrome. I get it but… I have literally NEVER used Chrome. Perhaps I just don’t know what I am missing but the web seems to work just fine for me without it?
  - Danox 5mo ago
    Touché…
imglorp 5mo ago
Sure, local models good and yes, there's no way we can trust Google. We can be positive the entire motivation of Chrome is user behavior surveillance. There's not a nano-chance in all the multiverses that Chrome model is doing anything privately. They've gone to extraordinary length to accomplish this. It's not for free.
- akoboldfrying 5mo ago
  I don't trust them either, but the same Google makes Gemma 4 available to run as locally and privately as you want, and those models are pretty amazing for their size.
  - imglorp 5mo ago
    Both can be true: they give a nice local model so you find it useful AND the chrome harness captures every token in and out for exfiltration.
- reactordev 5mo ago
  It is entirely about user surveillance as well as pushing their product on to their users because they have the install base. Google Chrome has become Microsoft IE6 in hostile user behavior.

michaelbuckbee 5mo ago

I ran a fairly large production test of this and on _every_ measure except for privacy it was worse than a free tier server hosted LLM. Not happy about that as I would like to see more local models but that's the current state of things. https://sendcheckit.com/blog/ai-powered-subject-line-alternatives https://sendcheckit.com/blog/ai-powered-subject-line-alterna...

gchamonlive 5mo ago
> on _every_ measure except for privacy it was worse than a free tier server hosted LLM Would you be able to compare this to other local models in it's class and a above that would fit consumer-grade hardware?

accrual 5mo ago

> It is a small model, so what utility can I / Google expect from it? Precedence for shipping models alongside consumer software. Potentially without consent if it truly is a silent install.

kevincox 5mo ago

I find models of this size (not tested this one specifically) at being very good at simple data extraction from user input. Think about things like parsing date and time of an event from a description or parsing a human-typed description of a repeating event rule.

hightrix 5mo ago

Something to do with serving more ads. My guess is they will use this to “better target” or to drain more information from you for their ads.

rmac 5mo ago

this is considered a large model. i think you might be surprised how many "small" models chrome has already pulled down on your disk. but to answer your question: one of the services that uses a small model: PermissionsAIv4 """ Use the Permission Predictions Service and the AIv4 model to surface permission notification requests using a quieter UI when the likelihood of the user granting the permission is predicted to be low. Requires `Make Searches and Browsing Better` to be enabled. – Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS, Android """

nemomarx 5mo ago
[dead]