Chrome deploys local AI to detect new emerging web scams
Google is rolling out new AI-powered defenses to help combat scams on Chrome, starting with its desktop version. The tech giant will use Gemini Nano, its on-device large language model, to protect users against online scams, including those that haven’t been seen before.
Chrome’s Enhanced Protection mode of Safe Browsing already offers twice the protection against phishing and other online threats compared to the browser’s Standard Protection mode. With Gemini Nano, Enhanced Protection users will receive an additional layer of defense. Google says this on-device approach will provide immediate insight into risky websites.
“Gemini Nano’s LLM is perfect for this use because of its ability to distill the varied, complex nature of websites, helping us adapt to new scam tactics more quickly,” Google said in a blog post. The company is already using this AI-powered defense to protect users from remote tech support claims and plans to expand it to Android devices and more types of scams.
Image: Google
Google is also launching new AI-powered warnings for Chrome on Android to help users be aware of spammy notifications. If Chrome’s on-device machine learning model flags a notification as possibly being a scam, users will receive a warning and can choose to unsubscribe or view the blocked content.
Google has been using AI to stop scams in Search, detecting and blocking hundreds of millions of scammy results daily. Its AI-powered scam detection systems have caught 20 times more scammy pages. For example, Google has reduced scams impersonating airline customer service agents by over 80%, decreasing the risk of users encountering scammy phone numbers on Search.