Google has announced plans to introduce new AI-driven protections to combat online scams on its Chrome browser.

The company will deploy Gemini Nano, its on-device large language model (LLM), on desktop versions of Chrome to enhance user safety.

Additionally, Chrome on Android will feature new AI-powered warnings to alert users to potentially spammy notifications.

Google said that Chrome’s Enhanced Protection mode, part of its Safe Browsing feature, offers the high level of security, providing double the protection against phishing and other online threats compared to Standard Protection mode.

With the integration of Gemini Nano, Enhanced Protection users will gain an extra layer of defence against online scams, including previously undetected threats.

According to Google, the on-device processing of Gemini Nano enables immediate detection of risky websites.

In a blog post, the company said: “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.”

The AI-powered defence is already being used to shield users from fraudulent remote tech support claims, with plans to extend this protection to Android devices and additional scam types in the future.

Google also highlighted the risks posed by malicious website notifications, which can be exploited to deceive users.

To address this, Chrome on Android will now flag notifications suspected of being scams, based on its on-device machine learning model.

Users will receive a warning and can choose to unsubscribe, view the blocked content, or allow future notifications from the site if they believe the warning was incorrect.

In addition to browser protections, Google noted that its AI systems are being used to curb scams on Google Search, blocking hundreds of millions of fraudulent results daily.