Google Chrome now lets you turn off on-device AI model powering scam detection

Google Chrome now lets you turn off on-device AI model powering scam detection

By Mayank Parmar
Publication Date: 2026-01-18 02:05:00

Google Chrome now lets you delete the local AI models that power the “Enhanced Protection” feature, which was upgraded with AI capabilities last year.

Enhanced protection has been in Chrome for a few years now, but it was updated last year with unknown AI models to offer “real-time” protection against dangerous websites, downloads, and extensions. 

Google Chrome
AI powered Enhanced protection in Chrome stable

It’s unclear how the feature is different from the older ‘non-AI’ version, but Google could be using AI to understand the pattern in real-time and warn users about potentially harmful sites, even those that Google hasn’t previously identified.

Wiz

According to Google, AI protection also performs an in-depth scan for suspicious downloads.

Now, Google has confirmed that Enhanced Protection was powered by an AI model hosted on your device via Google Chrome.

As spotted by Leo, Google Chrome now lets you delete the AI models behind AI-powered Enhanced…