Microsoft Corporation (MSFT. O), opens a new tab that will not release “Recall”, an AI-based tool that monitors computer usage, with new computers next week and will instead introduce it to a limited audience later, the technology company said on Thursday due to controversy on privacy violation.
The Recall feature logs internet surfing to voice conversations, which forms a record on the computer that the user can search for something they did at some point in time even up to several months. Review AI was released last month as an addition to the Copilot Plus computers which are the first computers with an integrated AI processor and an OS that supports AI services. Recall AI, the laptops’ main selling point, was designed to build an ‘explorable visual timeline of activity’ by capturing ubiquitous screenshots of what was displayed on the screen.
Recall AI feature is backing off its release
Microsoft announced Due to excessive monitoring of all activity including voice chats and web browsing demanded by Recall AI, other tech players and cybersecurity analysts raised concerns and criticized it. The Recall feature was designed in secrecy and it was not demonstrated publicly before the Surface event. The company is probably seeking to correct its missteps with this decision.
However it is officially stated that Today, we are communicating an additional update on the Recall (preview) feature for Copilot+ PCs. Recall will now shift from a preview experience broadly available for Copilot+ PCs on June 18, 2024, to a preview available first in the Windows Insider Program (WIP) in the coming weeks. Following receiving feedback on Recall from our Windows Insider Community, as we typically do, we plan to make Recall (preview) available for all Copilot+ PCs coming soon.
Major advantages of the Recall feature
The Recall feature is intended to monitor activity on a computer that can include web use, voice communication, etc. It generates a rich record of these activities that are stored locally in the computer. This history functions like a database where you can look up certain events or pieces of data even if they occurred some months prior.
The recall will allow the users to search for things they have previously viewed on the PC; however, security and privacy professionals reacted negatively to this feature when it was first reported because it captures a screenshot of nearly everything a user does and creates an easily navigable timeline of the events.
Moreover, there is also a plan to add a layer of encryption to the feature’s search index database to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. However, it now seems that Microsoft would like to spend more time fine-tuning the feature within the WIP community before releasing it to the general public. The constant monitoring of all activity including voice chats and web browsing as demanded by Recall AI led to concerns and criticism from other players in the tech industry and cybersecurity experts. The first set of Copilot+ PCs arriving next week will feature only Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X processors
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