[Findings](/findings/index.md) / UX-055

# "Ask the article" has never run against a real on-device model

Open · low severity · gap · Newsroom Design Lab

## What we saw

The ask view uses Chrome's built-in model when present and a labelled extractive fallback otherwise. Only the fallback and a stub were tested; the model is absent in headless Chrome and likely in the vault frame.

## Why it matters

The feature is shown to readers on a path nobody has seen work.

## The fix

Test in a real Chrome with the model, or use sg.llm with an llm.chat grant; until then say "fallback" in the UI, as it does.

## The record

| | |
| --- | --- |
| **Status** | Open |
| **Severity** | Low |
| **Kind** | Gap: something the reader needs is not there |
| **Product** | [Newsroom Design Lab](/findings/?product=newsroom-design-lab), prototype |
| **Where** | newsroom-proto-article |
| **Problems** | [Untested path](/findings/?problem=untested-path) |
| **Visibility** | [Silent](/findings/?visibility=silent): no symptom on screen: found only by measuring, or by its consequences |
| **Recommendation** | [Test where readers are](/findings/?recommendation=test-where-readers-are): run it on the device, browser and host readers actually use before showing it |
| **Area** | [Article page](/findings/?area=article) |
| **Breaks** | [What a page says about the present is true now](/principles/index.md#state-is-current) |
| **Observed** | 2026-10-11, v0.1.1 |
| **Last checked** | 2026-10-11, v0.1.1 |
| **Source** | [Design lab: what building it measured](/lab/index.md#what-building-the-lab-measured) |
| **Prototype** | [Article & reader primitives](/lab/index.md#newsroom-proto-article), route `ask`, in three directions |

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