Google announced Thursday that it is deploying new AI-powered defenses to help fight Chrome scams. The tech giant will begin using Gemini Nano, the leading language model (LLM) of devices on desktops, on the desktop, to protect users from online scams. It also launches a new AI-powered warning for Chrome on Android to allow users to recognize spam notifications.
According to Google, Chrome’s enhanced protection mode for Chrome’s secure browsing offers twice as much protection against phishing and other online threats compared to the standard protection mode of the browser. Currently, Google uses Gemini Nano to provide enhanced protected users with an additional layer of defense against online scams.
Google says this on-device approach provides immediate insight into high-risk websites to protect users, including scams they haven’t seen before.
“Gemini Nano’s LLM is perfect for this use because it has the ability to distill a variety of complex websites and helps you quickly adapt to new fraud tactics,” Google said in a blog post.
The company is already using this AI-powered defense to protect users from remote technical support billing. Google plans to expand this defense to Android devices and expand even more scams in the future.
Regarding warnings powered by new AI, Google points out that risks from scammer sites can be extended beyond the site itself by enabling them. Malicious websites can try to scam you using notifications. So Chrome can help you notice malicious, spam, or misleading notifications on Android.
Now you will receive a warning if you flag a notification that a machine learning model on your Chrome device might be a scam. You can choose to unsubscribe or view blocked content. If you believe that a warning has been incorrectly displayed, you can allow all future notifications from that site.
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As part of today’s announcement, Google shared that it uses AI to stop scams while searching by detecting and blocking results from hundreds of millions of scammers each day. The AI-powered fraud detection system helped catch 20x more fraud pages, Google says.
For example, Google has seen an increase in bad actors who spoof as customer service agents for airlines and scam people for help. The company says it cut these frauds by more than 80%, reducing the risk that users will encounter fraudulent phone numbers in searches.