Remember the buzz back in June about Microsoft’s new AI-powered automatic screenshot feature, Windows Recall? On Wednesday, Microsoft said in a blog post that it plans to let Windows testers try out the controversial Recall AI feature in October.
“As previously shared on June 13, we’ve adjusted our release approach to leverage the valuable expertise of our Windows Insider community before rolling out Recall to all Copilot+ PCs,” the post reads. “Security remains our top priority, and we’ll publish a blog post with more details when Recall is available to Windows Insiders in October.”
Recall is designed to track all activity on a Windows computer via periodic screenshots, using an AI tool to “visually retrace your steps,” making it easier to find previously opened apps, work and websites. In June, users and privacy advocates criticized the company’s plans for the feature.
The software giant originally planned to launch Recall in June with its Copilot Plus PCs, but was forced to delay the feature after security concerns were raised.
Microsoft said in a blog post on June 7 that the Recall feature, which was announced on May 20, will be disabled by default when it launches on Copilot Plus PCs. Users who want to take advantage of the feature will have to choose to enable it.
On the same day, Microsoft also quietly announced has pulled its latest Windows preview build 24H2 — the only Windows update with Recall — from the Windows Insider Program. It’s not yet clear whether this will impact the expected official release of 24H2 in fall 2024.
Microsoft had said the images were “locally encrypted, stored, and analyzed,” but privacy experts warned that other people with physical access to a particular computer could could potentially have access to it.
“Our team is driven by a relentless desire to empower people through the transformative potential of AI, and we see tremendous utility in Recall and the problem it can solve,” Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Windows and Devices Pavan Davuluri wrote on Friday. “To get the full value from experiences like Recall, people need to trust them.”
Read more: Microsoft’s AI Recall feature may not even be available on your PC, but here’s how to disable it
Microsoft’s decision to limit the Recall feature for Windows PCs is yet another example of the balancing act companies face as they seek to integrate artificial intelligence technologies into their products.
Microsoft in particular has been putting enormous pressure on itself to integrate AI into many of its widely used products, after its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI helped propel its market cap above $3 trillion on Wall Street.
The Copilot Plus PC initiative is a key part of Microsoft’s AI efforts. The company said a key feature of Copilot Plus PCs will be their ability to perform AI tasks using specialized neural processing units, or NPU chips, which will support features such as better photo editing, live transcription and translation for video and audio, and Recall.
Microsoft further dramatized its AI efforts earlier this year when it announced that it would add a Copilot AI key to the standard Windows keyboard layout. This was the first change since the addition of the Windows Start key thirty years ago.
In the June blog post, Microsoft said that if users choose to enable Recall for their devices, it will have enhanced security features. Microsoft said it will require Windows Hello biometric security to enable Recall and that the feature will need to determine your presence to view Recall data. The company also said it will have additional authentication features to protect user data.
“As we always do, we continue to listen and learn from our customers, including consumers, developers, and enterprises, to evolve our experiences in ways that are meaningful to them,” Microsoft’s Davuluri wrote. “We will continue to build these new capabilities and experiences for our customers by putting privacy, safety, and security first.”
AI stumbles
Microsoft isn’t the only company facing criticism for the way it adds AI to its products.
In May, OpenAI disabled one of the voices for its ChatGPT AI after actress Scarlett Johansson accused the company of designing its technology to be “eerily similar” to an AI character she voiced in the 2013 sci-fi film Her.
A week after OpenAI apologized and suspended its namesake voice, Google put the brakes on a new AI overview feature for its eponymous search product. The technology earnestly repeated a racist conspiracy theory about former US President Barack Obama and told other users to put glue on pizza and eat rocks as part of a healthy diet.
For hands-on CNET reviews of generative AI products including Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot, along with AI news, tips, and how-tos, visit our AI Atlas resources page.
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