Google Chromebook

2025-08-28T03:55:35Z

2601:84:8600:1540:BD79:9049:D37C:BE72: /* Google Chromebook Severely Impacted after Google force-installed ScreenAI into the Google Chrome browser (2025) */

{{Incomplete}}
{{InfoboxProductLine
| Title = {{PAGENAME}}
| Release Year =2011
| Product Type = Software/Hardware
| In Production = Yes
| Official Website = [https://www.google.com/chromebook Google Chromebook]
| Logo = Chromebook-logo.png
}}

==Consumer impact summary==
Overview of concerns that arise from the conduct towards users of products part of the product line.

Touch on relevant topics like;

User Freedom

User Privacy

Business Model

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product line. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].
===Google Chromebook Severely Impacted after Google force-installed ScreenAI into the Google Chrome browser (2025)===
There have been reports of Google's ScreenAI being enabled on Chromebooks via the Google Chrome webbrowser by default.'''<ref name="CBrick">{{Cite web |last=Isaac |first=Rob |date=24 Mar 2025 |title=Today Google bricked my Chromebook by force-installing a hidden extension |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43514087 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250331115019/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43514087 |archive-date=31 Mar 2025 |via=Hacker News, originally posted on Mastodon}}</ref>'''<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Gerard |first=David |date=29 Mar 2025 |title=Google ScreenAI: make your Chromebook melt down |url=https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/03/29/google-screenai-make-your-chromebook-melt-down/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250329233052/https://pivot-to-ai.com/2025/03/29/google-screenai-make-your-chromebook-melt-down/ |archive-date=29 Mar 2025 |access-date=21 Jun 2025 |website=Pivot to AI}}</ref> The accessibility tool was put into the [[wikipedia:Chromium_(web_browser)|Chromium]] project, which provides the foundation for the Google Chrome webbrowsers and other webbrowsers; potentially affecting the majority of webbrowsers that are used.<ref name=":0" />

Rob Isaac's complaint is that the machine has become "too hot to touch" and that the extra load has essentially made it unusable, while also reducing the battery life significantly.<ref name="CBrick" /> Chromebook users confirm these complaints on their own machines, and have posted their complaints on the Chromebook help forums.<ref name=":0" /> Other concerns are that the software is invasive, similar to [[Microsoft#Recall|Microsoft's Recall]] feature, and that the software itself is not transparent; the source code for ScreenAI is developed within Google's internal source code repository google3.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 May 2024 |title=Development and Deployment of ScreenAI |url=https://github.com/chromium/chromium/blob/main/services/screen_ai/README.md#development-and-deployment |access-date=21 Jun 2025 |website=GitHub}}</ref>

==Products==
{{Placeholder box|This is a list of the products with articles on this wiki.
* [[Example product one]] (release date): Short summary of the product's incidents.
* [[Example product two]] (release date):}}

==See also==
{{Placeholder box|Link to relevant theme articles or product lines with similar incidents.}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Anti-Consumer Practices]]
[[Category:Planned obsolescence]]

Consumer Rights Wiki - User contributions [en]

Google Chromebook