Microsoft’s controversial AI tool that takes screenshots on PCs will be turned off by default

Microsoft’s upcoming Copilot+ PCs feature AI tools such as Recall, which screenshots users’ activity periodically

Microsoft may be leading the generative artificial intelligence race — but that’s not without some stumbles.

Last month, Microsoft announced its Copilot+ PCs with AI features, including the Recall tool, which takes screenshots of users’ activity periodically. The screenshots are encrypted, stored, and analyzed by AI to “understand their context,” serving as a sort of “photographic memory” for users to remember their PC activity, according to Microsoft. But after privacy and security concerns emerged, Microsoft said Friday that the feature will be off by default.Users will have to enroll in Windows Hello to enable the tool, as well as provide proof of presence to view screenshots in Recall. Microsoft is also “adding additional layers of data protection” such as “just in time” decryption to decrypt Recall screenshots when authenticated users try to access them. Copilot+ PCs are slated to start shipping to customers on June 18.

Kevin Beaumont, a cybersecurity expert who formerly worked with Microsoft, shared a thread on X showing Recall’s potential security flaws. Recall, he found, stored information in a plain-text database, making it possible for attackers to gain access using malware.

Microsoft is “going to deliberately set cybersecurity back a decade & endanger customers by empowering low level criminals,” he wrote. A Microsoft executive addressed criticism by comparing its hurried AI developments to a “journey.”

“We are on a journey to build products and experiences that live up to our company mission to empower people and organizations to achieve more, and are driven by the critical importance of maintaining our customers’ privacy, security and trust,” Pavan Davuluri, corporate vice president of Windows and Devices, said in a statement. “As we always do, we will continue to listen to and learn from our customers, including consumers, developers and enterprises, to evolve our experiences in ways that are meaningful to them.”

Microsoft is reportedly facing scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission over potential anticompetitive practices in the AI industry. The company is reportedly already under investigation by the FTC over its deal to “acqui-hire” the AI startup Inflection. In March, Microsoft paid Inflection a $650 million “licensing fee” to use its models, and hired most of the startup’s employees — including its chief executive Mustafa Suleyman, who now heads Microsoft’s AI division.

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Microsoft introducing feature where A.I. will record and analyze everything you do on your computer

Microsoft recently announced a new feature coming to Windows that records and analyzes everything you do on your computer and feeds it to A.I.

Seriously, does anybody want something like this?According to Ars Technica, Microsoft says this will be a way to “retrace your steps” on your computer, and will allow you to flip through EVERYTHING you’ve done, including your messages, inside apps, and even within video conferencing.

Microsoft says the data is encrypted only on your hard drive and can be deleted at any time, but we all should know that once something is on the internet, it’s there forever! source

New Windows AI feature records everything you’ve done on your PC

Recall uses AI features “to take images of your active screen every few seconds.”

At a Build conference event on Monday, Microsoft revealed a new AI-powered feature called “Recall” for Copilot+ PCs that will allow Windows 11 users to search and retrieve their past activities on their PC. To make it work, Recall records everything users do on their PC, including activities in apps, communications in live meetings, and websites visited for research. Despite encryption and local storage, the new feature raises privacy concerns for certain Windows users.”Recall uses Copilot+ PC advanced processing capabilities to take images of your active screen every few seconds,” Microsoft says on its website. “The snapshots are encrypted and saved on your PC’s hard drive. You can use Recall to locate the content you have viewed on your PC using search or on a timeline bar that allows you to scroll through your snapshots.”

By performing a Recall action, users can access a snapshot from a specific time period, providing context for the event or moment they are searching for. It also allows users to search through teleconference meetings they’ve participated in and videos watched using an AI-powered feature that transcribes and translates speech.

At first glance, the Recall feature seems like it may set the stage for potential gross violations of user privacy. Despite reassurances from Microsoft, that impression persists for second and third glances as well. For example, someone with access to your Windows account could potentially use Recall to see everything you’ve been doing recently on your PC, which might extend beyond the embarrassing implications of pornography viewing and actually threaten the lives of journalists or perceived enemies of the state.

Despite the privacy concerns, Microsoft says that the Recall index remains local and private on-device, encrypted in a way that is linked to a particular user’s account. “Recall screenshots are only linked to a specific user profile and Recall does not share them with other users, make them available for Microsoft to view, or use them for targeting advertisements. Screenshots are only available to the person whose profile was used to sign in to the device,” Microsoft says.

Users can pause, stop, or delete captured content and can exclude specific apps or websites. Recall won’t take snapshots of InPrivate web browsing sessions in Microsoft Edge or DRM-protected content. However, Recall won’t actively hide sensitive information like passwords and financial account numbers that appear on-screen.

Microsoft previously explored a somewhat similar functionality with the Timeline feature in Windows 10, which the company discontinued in 2021, but it didn’t take continuous snapshots. Recall also shares some obvious similarities to Rewind, a third-party app for Mac we covered in 2022 that logs user activities for later playback.

As you might imagine, all this snapshot recording comes at a hardware penalty. To use Recall, users will need to purchase one of the new “Copilot Plus PCs” powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips, which include the necessary neural processing unit (NPU). There are also minimum storage requirements for running Recall, with a minimum of 256GB of hard drive space and 50GB of available space. The default allocation for Recall on a 256GB device is 25GB, which can store approximately three months of snapshots. Users can adjust the allocation in their PC settings, with old snapshots being deleted once the allocated storage is full.

As far as availability goes, Microsoft says that Recall is still undergoing testing. “Recall is currently in preview status,” Microsoft says on its website. “During this phase, we will collect customer feedback, develop more controls for enterprise customers to manage and govern Recall data, and improve the overall experience for users.” source

Windows 11 Recall AI feature will record everything you do on your PC

Microsoft on Thursday expanded public access to its generative artificial intelligence programs, despite fears that tech firms are rushing ahead too quickly with potentially dangerous technology.

The AI-enhanced features of the company’s Bing search engine and Edge internet browser are now open for anyone to use, Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president, said in a blog post.

“This means that it will now be easier than ever for everyone to try the new Bing and Edge by simply signing into Bing with your Microsoft Account,” Mehdi said.