This explains why your phone's AICore app uses so many gigabytes of storage.
You are probably familiar with the AICore app if you regularly use AI features on your Android phone. This app is crucial for controlling the AI on your device because it updates language models and makes sure all AI-related functions are operating properly.g properly.
However, AICore suffers from a minor issue you may have noticed: it consumes a significant amount of storage space. Until now, we haven't been able to explain why; it's simply the way it is. But Google has finally clarified the matter, providing the official reason behind AICore's high storage consumption.
Google recently updated its AiCore support site, and among the changes it made was an answer to one of the most frequently asked questions from users and developers: Why does AiCore consume so much storage space on Android? The answer is much simpler than we expected, and frankly, totally justified.
The reason AICore sometimes consumes a large amount of storage space is due to updates. When a new version of the language model becomes available, Google AICore downloads and installs it, but it also keeps a copy of the previous model.
What's the point of this if you already have the latest version? It makes perfect sense! If the update fails, Google can quickly revert you to the previous version, and everything will continue to work normally. Yes, you won't have to wait for your phone to download several gigabytes of data if something goes wrong.
It's a simple yet very clever security measure that prioritizes essential functions. In fact, Google itself explains this measure and provides further details:
You might occasionally notice that this service is consuming more storage space than expected. This happens when the system updates itself in the background to a new version of the AI model. To ensure the features work correctly, your device temporarily stores both the old and new versions of the model for up to three days. This security mechanism allows your phone to instantly revert to a previous version if there are any errors in the new update, instead of having to download several gigabytes of data again.
The backup created by AICore of a previous version of the language model does not occupy storage space indefinitely. It is saved for only three days and then deleted, as Google considers this period sufficient to determine whether the update has failed.
Therefore, it's not as if you have to manually delete Google AICore data all the time; just wait a little while and the space will be freed up.