Microsoft has recently introduced “Recall,” a new artificial intelligence feature for Windows 11 that records and takes screenshots of all user activities on a PC.
Recall monitors a user’s every move while on computer, capturing snapshots every five seconds as the screen changes. Acting like a digital time capsule, Microsoft says the new feature can help “find the content you have viewed on your device.” It could be past content from any document, application, or website.
To use Recall, a user must meet specific hardware requirements, including a Microsoft Copilot+ PC with a 40 TOPs NPU, a Snapdragon X chip, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. The AI-scanned screenshots of active windows will be compiled into a semantic index that can be searched using human language. This semantic index includes texts, URLs, and images, making it easier for users to pull out.
The screenshots are also encrypted with Bitlocker linked to the user’s account, remain local, and are not shared. Microsoft also emphasises that users have full control over what Recall records. They can delete screenshots, adjust time ranges, and exclude specific apps and websites from being saved.
Recall is scheduled to launch in June, but even before its official debut, it has already been receiving criticism among PC users, experts, and public authorities. In fact, the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is now investigating the new AI feature, expressing its concerns about data privacy rights and cybersecurity.
“We expect organisations to be transparent with users about how their data is being used and only process personal data to the extent that it is necessary to achieve a specific purpose,” the ICO wrote in a statement. “The industry must consider data protection from the outset and rigorously assess and mitigate risks to people’s rights and freedoms before bringing products to market.”
“We are making inquiries with Microsoft to understand the safeguards in place to protect user privacy,” the ICO added.
Cybersecurity experts have also expressed their worries about the potential misuse of the information by bad actors, such as hackers, cybercriminals who use information-stealing malware, fraudsters, and malicious insiders. Since Recall is also enabled by default and does not perform “content moderation,” this means it won’t conceal sensitive information like passwords, health records, credit cards, and other banking details that may appear on a PC screen.
As stated on Microsoft’s admin page, users who prefer not to use Recall can disable it by implementing the “Turn off saving snapshots for Windows” policy. By doing this, any snapshots already saved on the device will also be deleted.