What you need to know
- Google recently highlighted the launch of AI-powered warnings in Chrome for Android.
- Thanks to Gemini’s intelligence and on-device machine learning, Google says Android users will receive alerts about potential scams through notifications.
- Google updated Chrome’s Safety Check on Android last September, giving it improved background tasks and an early version of notification alerts.
Google’s starting to rollout a new security feature on Android that’ll help ward off malicious threats when browsing.
In a Keyword post, Google highlighted the new lengths it’s going to protect its Chrome for Android users, thanks to machine learning. Its software will now hone in on “scams, spam, and unwanted notifications” from malicious websites. A subsequent blog post explains Chrome will soon leverage a local, on-device machine learning model to “analyze” website notifications.
Much of this model’s prowess comes from Gemini. Essentially, Google states the model’s available synthetic data, which it used for training, was “evaluated against real notifications Chrome security team collected by subscribing to a variety of websites.”
If Chrome on Android has flagged a notification as malicious, users will see the site’s name, a caution icon, and a message warning them against interacting with it. Chrome will then offer two options: Unsubscribe and Show Notification.
Chrome’s AI-backed intelligence could’ve gotten things wrong, which is the reason behind the Show Notification option. Users can still see what it deems malicious and tell it otherwise if the alert is fine.
Chrome’s Safety on Android Advances
These malicious notification protections hit Android (mobile) first; however, Google says it will look into expanding its coverage in the future.
Additionally, Google highlighted Gemini Nano’s assistance with Chrome’s Enhanced Protection mode on desktop. The company states it’s already using the AI to help protect users from tech support scams when browsing. Gemini Nano gives users “instant” insight into risky websites, which enables the browser to better protect users.
Google adds that it will look into bringing these capabilities to Android, as well as the ability to combat more scam types.
Last September, Google announced a major Safety Check update for its Android Chrome users. Safety Check’s background tasks were updated to ensure you’re running the latest browser software and the ability to scan your passwords for potential security risks. Moreover, Safety Check will consider your installed extensions (on desktop) and warn you if any of them are working against you.
Interestingly, the company previously highlighted Chrome’s ability on Android to check for potentially dangerous notifications. However, given the recent updates to the function with Gemini and the inclusion of on-device machine learning, this ability is picking up a noteworthy enhancement to combat scams and more types of spam.
