Google just gave Chrome and Android a secret weapon against online scams
If you've ever had one of those scary pop-up windows claiming your phone or computer has a virus, you're definitely not alone. Fake virus alerts and tech support scams are still everywhere – and now Google is stepping things up to fight them using AI that runs directly on your device.
The company says it is using Gemini Nano, a lightweight version of its Gemini AI model, to help spot scammy websites and pop-ups in real-time. This protection is rolling out to users with Enhanced Protection in Chrome on desktop and the best part is that it doesn't rely on cloud processing – it happens on your machine.
– Google, May 2025 But Google isn't stopping with desktop. It also plans to roll out this AI-powered scam protection to Android devices – starting with smarter alerts in Chrome. If a suspicious website sends a sketchy push notification, Google will flag it, give you the option to unsubscribe or let you view it anyway if you think it is safe.
Google is launching new AI-powered warnings for Chrome on Android. | Image credit – Google These notifications are end-to-end encrypted and the analysis is done completely on your device. Google doesn't get to see the content. Since notifications can be sensitive, Google trained its model using synthetic data generated by Gemini, rather than scraping real messages.Scammers are now using AI to crank out tons of fake, realistic-looking content, making it way easier for them to trick people and steal personal info or money. The barrier to entry for online scams has basically disappeared – and that's a serious problem.
To push back, Google also recently rolled out AI-powered scam detection directly on Android phones. It is built right into Google Messages and the Phone by Google app, and it is designed to catch these more advanced scams before they get to you.
But, let's be real – scammers aren't going to stop anytime soon. They are constantly switching up their tactics. But at least Google is making it harder for them to succeed and that is always a win.
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