Is it safe to delete Chrome on-device AI model?
The Gemini Nano language model Chrome downloads in the background to run AI features on your Mac.
Usually safe
It can be recreated, but it takes a download, a reinstall or the tool's own command.
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What it is
On eligible Macs, Chrome downloads Gemini Nano so that features such as writing help, scam warnings and page summaries, and websites that use Chrome's built-in AI, can run on your Mac without sending data to Google. Chrome keeps the model in this folder, updates it in the background, and removes it by itself when free space runs low. Chrome's On-device AI setting is the supported way to remove it and stop it from downloading again.
If it's removed
Chrome features and websites that rely on the on-device model stop working until you turn the setting back on and Chrome downloads the model again.
What to do instead
In Chrome, click the More menu, choose Settings, then AI Innovations, and turn off On-device AI. Chrome deletes the model and doesn't download it again while the setting is off.
The free analyzer finds it and explains it, with these steps. The app doesn't remove it for you.
Sources
- support.google.com/chrome/answer/16961953
- developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/understand-built-in-model-management
- developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/get-started
- chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/HEAD/docs/user_data_dir.md
- github.com/chromium/chromium/blob/main/chrome/browser/component_updater/optimization_guide_on_device_model_installer.cc
Last checked on 26 Sep 2026. Every entry is written and checked by hand; the app and the command-line tool use the same words.