Smarter scams meet smarter security in Google’s new rollout

Google is deploying AI technology to combat common online scams, particularly tech support schemes that trick users into believing their devices are infected. This initiative represents a significant expansion of Google’s security infrastructure, as the company harnesses its Gemini AI models to detect and warn users about potential threats across Chrome, Search, and Android platforms. The timing is crucial, as AI advancements have simultaneously made it easier for scammers to create convincing fake content, with global scam losses exceeding $1 trillion last year.

The big picture: Google is implementing on-device AI to identify and warn users about tech support scams that typically involve popup windows falsely claiming device infections.

• The company is deploying a version of its Gemini AI model that runs directly on users’ devices to detect these common internet scams.
• This initiative is part of a broader strategy to leverage AI advancement defensively against various online threats.

Key details: The new protection features span Google’s major platforms, creating multiple layers of security against increasingly sophisticated scams.

• Chrome now uses Gemini Nano, an on-device AI model, to scan webpages in real-time and detect potential threats when users click on a page.
• Android’s notification protection warns users about alerts from suspicious sites and offers automatic unsubscription from questionable notifications.
• AI enhancements to Google Search now help detect and block deceptive results, reportedly blocking 20 times more problematic pages than previous systems.

Why this matters: The initiative addresses a growing technological imbalance where AI has empowered scammers while security measures have lagged behind.

• According to the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, consumers worldwide lost over $1 trillion to scams in the past year.
• Google reports its AI improvements have already reduced airline-related scam searches by 80%.

Industry trends: Google isn’t operating in isolation, as multiple tech and financial institutions are developing AI-powered fraud detection.

• Organizations including O2, Microsoft, and the US Treasury Department are similarly leveraging AI to identify and prevent various types of scams.
• These efforts suggest an emerging security approach where AI is used to combat the very threats that AI advancements have enabled.