OpenAI Launches Computer History Feature for ChatGPT Mac App with Privacy Trade-offs

ChatGPT Can Now Add Your Mac Activity to Its Memories - CNET

OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot and Codex coding agents have had access to memories, the company's term for context (background information) derived from previous chat activity, since April 2024. A new Computer History feature builds on that to include (if you opt in) logging your interactions with websites and applications, so it can essentially follow your footsteps to extrapolate where you want to go. The feature launched this week on MacOS for subscribers to its Pro, Business and Enterprise plans (but not yet for users in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the United Kingdom). According to the documentation, admins for the latter two plans can control whether users have the ability to enable the feature, in addition to individual user opt-in. Beyond having the ability to opt in, you can independently select which applications and websites are fair game, as well as pause tracking; you can also view or delete the history at will. If Computer History sounds familiar, it's because integrating your every on-device activity in the service of ultrapersonalized agenting is one of the foundations of every whizzy AI feature trotted out to sell tech in recent years. Notably, it hearkens back to Windows Recall, which Microsoft announced in May 2024 -- and then quickly rolled back because of controversy over its security and privacy flaws. About a year later, a refined version began to appear in the operating system. Unlike Recall and OpenAI's Chronicle preview, which Computer History replaces, this particular implementation doesn't capture screens, record voice input or use other similar types of monitoring. Instead, it uses accessibility application programming interface in MacOS to capture everything that API exposes: "clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, app switches, and context," according to the company's description. It then periodically synthesizes that activity into a summary of what you've done rather than what you saw, heard or said. So, as far as I can tell, it can track and show you where to find files you looked at but not the content of the files. However, if you use that content as part of a future chat, it can link your activity to that content. Even if only a series of keyboard events gets recorded, that doesn't necessarily mean the content can't be inferred or exploited. These types of features fall into my privacy-slash-security complacency zone, where browser fingerprinting, deanonymization and similar schemes dwell. The summaries are generated in the cloud but stored locally on your system. The company says it doesn't retain the activity files unless legally mandated and doesn't use them for training. OpenAI does issue an explicit warning about the feature in its description: "Computer History files can contain sensitive information. They are not encrypted by Computer History, and other programs running as your macOS user may be able to access them." The built-in disk encryption on MacOS probably offers a layer of protection in some cases, though. The feature creates tokens for summarizing and memory creation, so your plan's token budget and context window size may have an impact. There's no indication at the moment when or if a Windows or mobile app will be available.

ChatGPT's Computer History tracks your clicks and keystrokes

ChatGPT's desktop app on macOS has a new feature called Computer History that turns your actions into training data, learning how you work, suggesting automations, and even picking up tasks you left half done. It uses your activity to build a timeline that ChatGPT and Codex can reference when you make a request. The feature is opt-in, rather than opt-out, and you can exclude certain apps and websites from Computer History, and you can delete entries if you want finer-grained control. Ari Weinstein, Product and Engineering manager at OpenAI, said on X that Computer History will automatically ignore content in incognito or private browser tabs. In a quick demo video, Dominik Kundel, a member of the Developer Experiences team at OpenAI, shows the app looking up the last document he edited, checking if it was shared with people via Slack, and delivering a recap of how he spent his morning. The feature is definitely reminiscent of Windows Recall, but where Microsoft's controversial AI feature relied heavily on screenshots, OpenAI says Computer History doesn't capture images, videos, or audio, instead relying on "events."

ChatGPT's new Computer History tracks your Mac activity to create a timeline - but should you let it?

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways * ChatGPT's Computer History creates a timeline from your app and website activities. * From the timeline, you can incorporate your work into your conversations. * The option is only in the Mac app and only for certain types of accounts. ChatGPT now has a new feature that sounds like a productivity boost but may trigger concerns among privacy-minded users. On Thursday, OpenAI introduced its new Computer History feature. Now hitting the ChatGPT Mac app, but only for Pro, Business, and Enterprise accounts, Computer History is an opt-in skill that can capture your activities across the apps and websites you use on your Mac. Those activities are then turned into memories and a timeline where you can incorporate them into your conversations and research with ChatGPT and the Codex coding tool. Also: How to use ChatGPT: A beginner's guide to mastering OpenAI's chatbot The feature is rolling out globally in most regions, but with access in the UK, Switzerland, and the European Economic Area to follow in the next few weeks. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Replaces Chronicle, no screenshots required Computer History builds on and replaces the ChatGPT Chronicle feature, which can monitor your screen activity to understand what you're doing while you work. As described by OpenAI, Computer History uses fewer tokens and offers more privacy controls than does Chronicle. Plus, Chronicle takes screenshots to capture your activities, while Computer History records your interactions with apps and websites but doesn't capture your screen, microphone input, or system audio. By drawing from the generated timeline, you can ask questions about recent work, pick up where you left off with certain activities, understand how you work based on the apps and websites you use, and turn your workflows into new skills. That can be helpful whether you use ChatGPT for requests and research or you use Codex to build and refine code for your projects. Also: How to keep your conversations with ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or Claude as private as possible "Computer History creates an interaction-event stream from allowed apps and websites," OpenAI said on its page describing the new option. "Events can include clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, app switches, and context that MacOS exposes through its accessibility system. Computer History periodically turns these events into text summaries and local memory files." The timeline organizes your activities by day and time. Each captured item displays a title and summary of the activity, the apps or websites you used, a suggested skill for repeatable work, and options to see the memory file in Finder or delete the item entirely. Ways to use the Computer History feature OpenAI offers a few examples of what you could ask ChatGPT based on Computer History. * "What was I working on before my last break?" * "Where can I find the proposal document I was looking for earlier today?" * "Give me a list of tasks I've worked on today and their status." * "Prepare a summary of what I did yesterday." Also: How to create flyers with AI that people won't hate: 8 tips (and prompts) that really work Curious so far? To enable Computer History in the ChatGPT Mac app, go to Settings, select Integrations, and then click Computer History. Turn on the feature and then review the privacy and permission details. If prompted, turn on the Memories option. (Computer History requires Memories so it can use activities across your chats and tasks.) Choose which apps and websites to add to your history and then follow the prompts to set up the necessary MacOS permissions. Computer History seems like a useful way not only to incorporate your activities into your ChatGPT conversations but also to use the AI to help you organize and manage your work. But this also sounds like a potential privacy risk. Is Computer History safe and secure? With ChatGPT capturing what you do, where you go, and which tasks you handle, the AI is collecting a lot of information about you -- both professionally and personally. Is Computer History safe and secure? To address privacy concerns, OpenAI has set up a few conditions and requirements. Also: How OpenAI's agent escaped: Sprung by humans in a series of preventable events First, Computer History is an opt-in feature. You need to actively enable it to use it. With a Pro account, you can do that yourself. With a Business or Enterprise account managed by your company, the designated administrator has to grant access to employees. Second, you choose which apps and websites Computer History should record. The permissions let you include only the ones you want and exclude any you don't. That means you're able to block ones that display more sensitive content. Third, you can pause the collection at any time and resume it later. You can also turn off the feature completely. Fourth, you can clear the history of any recorded activities so that ChatGPT won't remember or store them any further. Despite these precautions, there is still one potential headache. As OpenAI states: "Computer History files can contain sensitive information. They are not encrypted by Computer History, and other programs running as your MacOS user may be able to access them. Protect your Mac account and exclude sources you do not want included." Also: I tried the new ChatGPT Desktop App for Linux - but I'll stick to my browser for now That lack of encryption concerns me. Though OpenAI may not be spying on your activities, savvy hackers who know how to snag this information could learn about your work. For that reason, you do want to exclude any unwanted sources and secure your Mac. Further, you'll probably want to use Computer History selectively, at least at first, until you see how it works and whether it truly is a productivity boost.

ChatGPT Can Now Track Your Mac Activity, Take Actions Based on a Saved Timeline

OpenAI's latest feature for ChatGPT's macOS app allows the AI tool to create a timeline of your Mac activity and use that information to respond to queries or automate tasks. Computer History is available for ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise users at launch. You can use it to "ask natural questions about recent work, pick up where you left off, understand patterns in how you work, and turn repeated workflows into skills or automations," OpenAI says. Computer History is disabled by default; users must enable Computer History and Memories from app settings for it to work. Pro users can turn them on manually by going to Settings > Integrations > Computer History. Business and Enterprise users can follow the same steps, provided their administrator has approved the feature. How Does ChatGPT's Computer History Work? To record your Mac activity, Computer History tracks your clicks, typing, app switches, and other movements across allowed apps and websites. It then organizes the information into Memory files and daily summaries, which ChatGPT can tap when prompted. Samples prompts shared by OpenAI include: "Give me a list of tasks I've worked on today and their status," "Prepare a summary of what I did yesterday for standup," or "Where can I find the proposal document I was looking for earlier today?" Temporary Memory files created by Computer History will be retained for 48 hours, while all other details will be retained until you manually delete them. Once enabled, you can manage all operations related to the feature from Settings > Computer History. As OpenAI notes, "Computer History replaces the earlier Chronicle research preview," which used screenshots (similar to Microsoft Recall). "Computer History records interaction events and does not capture your screen or audio." OpenAI warns that the data collected by the feature isn't encrypted, and other apps and websites running on your Mac may be able to access it. "Protect your Mac account and exclude sources you do not want included," it says. The feature is already available to Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscribers in the US and most other regions worldwide. Access in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland will follow in the coming weeks, OpenAI said in an X post. Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

OpenAI ditches Recall-style screenshot surveillance for friendly keylogging

If you want to record whatever you do on a computer, send those records to OpenAI, use more ChatGPT tokens, and increase your vulnerability to prompt injection, then OpenAI has something for you. It's called Computer History, an opt-in way to record your computer interactions across apps and websites as memories organized on a timeline. Why would you want to do so? Maybe you found Chronicle, the predecessor of Computer History which compiled similar histories using screenshots, a bit too intrusive but don't mind Computer History's approach - recording input events and storing them unencrypted locally for 48 hours (or more), with a brief visit to OpenAI's servers. Maybe you're not bothered by the warning OpenAI includes in its documentation: "Computer History files can contain sensitive information. They are not encrypted by Computer History, and other programs running as your macOS user may be able to access them." Perhaps, having given OpenAI's Codex and GPT Work the run of your computer, you're already sold on the suggestion that storing your computer activity in memory files and arranging those interactions in a timeline will improve ChatGPT responses, surface opportunities for automation, and make it easier to resume prior work. Computer History is, to put it bluntly, a keylogging and event capture system. There was a time before eyeglass cameras, license plate readers, surveillance capitalism, and police drones when such snooping might have provoked an outcry from privacy advocates. But the tech industry has found it can outsource surveillance to its own customers and in so doing make the panopticon harder to protest once it becomes a personal choice. "Computer History creates an interaction-event stream from allowed apps and websites," OpenAI's documentation explains. "Events can include clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, app switches, and context that macOS exposes through its accessibility system. Computer History periodically turns these events into text summaries and local memory files." The AI biz makes a point of noting that Computer History does not capture screen images, microphone input, or system audio. Nor does it capture private-mode browsing. Off by default, Computer History is available for ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS. Pro users can enable it individually; Business and Enterprise users need an admin to approve it. It's not available currently in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, or the United Kingdom or to those accessing ChatGPT via API key or Amazon Bedrock. There are circumstances in which OpenAI suggests Computer History users might want to suspend the service if they have some scruples about capturing user activity in apps and websites without permission. "Turn it off during communications with other people unless you have their prior express consent," the company advises, perhaps in acknowledgement of legal risk. "Consider pausing it or excluding apps that contain sensitive health, financial, or personal information." Computer History interaction events are supposed to be saved locally for up to 48 hours before being deleted by ChatGPT and Codex. Events, however, get sent to OpenAI servers to generate memories, and those may be stored locally for longer periods of time and may be used in future chats that get passed back to OpenAI. "OpenAI does not retain those event files after processing unless required by law and does not use them for training," the company says. While it has opposed demands for chat logs, it has nonetheless provided chat logs in response to legal process. Computer History adds cost because it uses tokens during the summarization of activities and the creation of memory data. It also expands the prompt injection attack surface. "Computer History increases the risk of prompt injection from content in apps and websites," the company says. "For example, if you visit a website containing malicious instructions, ChatGPT or Codex might follow those instructions." But at least you get a nice timeline of your recent activity. ®

ChatGPT for Mac just got smarter -- these 10 prompts put its new Computer History feature to work

Turn your desktop ChatGPT module into the best context-aware assistant Since its arrival on Mac desktops and laptops as a native app, ChatGPT has earned its keep as one of the most reliable AI tools for macOS users. By combining the chatbot's Chat, Work and Codex features, ChatGPT's macOS app has become a quality digital assistant that steps up to handle any job when you request its help with a simple keyboard shortcut (Option + Space). ChatGPT for Mac is already capable of pulling context from whatever's on your screen, your email, screenshots and files to fulfill any of the jobs you give it. But a newly installed feature now makes it capable of learning and remembering everything you do on your Mac, even when you do it outside of the app itself. With the new "Computer History" update, the native macOS ChatGPT app builds a searchable timeline of all the activity you've done across all your selected sites and apps. It's worth noting that this feature is off by default, which means Pro users can choose to turn it on, while Business and Enterprise users must ask for access from their administrators to make that feature active. If you want to test out this new Computer History feature to see what it can do, test out these 10 prompts to put it to work. Making sure ChatGPT for Mac never forgets what you've been doing The Computer History feature is promised to be as safe to use as possible -- OpenAI has made it clear that it only temporarily stores interaction events that have taken place on your Mac for up to 48 hours. And while that data is processed on the tech giant's servers to generate the memories the ChatGPT macOS app needs to reference your past activity, it's not kept after being processed and is never used for AI training. This new feature doesn't save screenshots, screen recordings, microphone input or system audio -- it simply keeps track of whatever sites and apps you've been working with to handle jobs such as finding a document you recently looked at, producing a summary of everything you worked on for the day, creating a productivity report based on everything you worked on for the week, etc. To put this new Computer History feature to the test and make your native ChatGPT macOS app do a better job of analyzing, connecting, recovering and improving on your daily workflows, try using these 10 ChatGPT-generated prompts: * What was I working on?: Look at my computer activity from today and give me a concise summary of everything I worked on. Group it by project, identify what I completed, and tell me what I left unfinished. * Find the thing you were working on: What was that article, document, website, or project I was working on yesterday that I spent the most time on? Tell me what I was doing with it and help me pick up where I left off. * Turn your day into a to-do list: Based on what I actually did on my Mac today, create a prioritized to-do list for tomorrow. Separate unfinished tasks from new tasks you should recommend. * Find unfinished work: Review my computer activity from the past seven days. Identify projects I started but haven't finished, and rank them by how important or urgent they appear to be. * Reconstruct a lost train of thought: Look at what I was doing immediately before I switched away from my most recent project. Based on that activity, tell me what I was probably trying to accomplish and suggest the next three steps. * Create a weekly productivity report: Analyze my computer activity from the past week. What projects consumed most of my time? What recurring tasks did I perform? Where did I appear to lose time? Give me three concrete suggestions for improving my workflow next week. * Find your biggest time sinks: Analyze my computer activity over the last seven days and identify my biggest sources of wasted time. Don't simply count hours -- look for repeated patterns, unnecessary app switching, and tasks that seem to interrupt my productive work. * Discover repetitive tasks: Look through my recent computer history for tasks I've repeatedly performed in roughly the same sequence. Identify the three most repetitive workflows and explain how I could automate or simplify each one. * Turn repeated behavior into a workflow: Find a workflow I've performed repeatedly on my Mac. Reconstruct the steps as accurately as possible, then turn it into a reusable checklist or automation plan. * Prepare for tomorrow: Based on my activity today, what should I know before I start work tomorrow? Summarize unfinished projects, important research, open questions, and anything I appeared to be waiting on. Bottom line Based on the digital breadcrumbs you leave behind during your time spent browsing, researching and working across your enabled Mac apps and sites, ChatGPT for Mac's Computer History feature turns all that activity into memories and a timeline that it can reference to improve your workflow. While ChatGPT for Mac users based in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland and the United Kingdom can't access this feature just yet, it is accessible for users in other countries where ChatGPT for Mac is available. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok.

New ChatGPT Feature Collects Every Keystroke You Make

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech OpenAI has revealed a new feature for ChatGPT's desktop app on macOS that basically tracks your clicks, keystrokes, and more -- all so it can fine-tune its AI model, raising obvious privacy concerns. The feature, called Computer History, lets ChatGPT "learn from everything you do on your computer," said Ari Weinstein, an OpenAI product and engineering manager, on X. The company describes the tool as creating a timeline of your actions that an AI agent can use to learn how you work, finish tasks on your behalf that you started, and suggest skills and automations. The degree of access the software has to your digital life is dizzying. In a brief demo video, OpenAI's Dominik Kundel, a developer experience enginer, asks ChatGPT in voice mode what the last Google Doc he viewed was, and the AI replies with the document's name. When asked, the AI even double checks if the document was shared in a group chat with his coworkers. Kundel explains that based on the context from earlier, the AI knows what messages to check, and a preview of the model's "thinking" shows that it's plowing through his Slack history. OpenAI stresses that Computer History is opt-in rather than opt-out. The feature will also automatically ignore any content in incognito mode or private browser tabs, Weinstein said, and you can manually blacklist apps from being tracked. On top of that, you can view a database of the AI's "memory" that it's built and remove anything you don't want to be in there. Still, it's a lot of access to be giving an AI model. And while the desktop user may consent to having their stuff viewed, that may not be the case for the people they've messaged in private DMs which the AI will be scanning on Slack and other platforms. More than a few social media users called the feature "creepy." In particular, Computer History garnered comparisons to Microsoft's much-maligned Windows Recall, a feature that constantly takes screenshots of your desktop and uses an AI to automatically scan text and compile everything into a searchable database. Earlier versions of Recall drowned in controversy when users discovered that it would record your Social Security number and store the sensitive screenshots in an unencrypted folder. OpenAI's Computer History doesn't take screenshots and relies on "events" and "interactions" instead -- your clicks, keystrokes, and other inputs. But it's not hard to imagine the AI accidentally viewing stuff it's not supposed to. In a disclaimer, the company warns that "Computer History files can contain sensitive information" -- and, crucially, aren't encrypted, meaning "other programs running as your macOS user may be able to access them." More on OpenAI: Axios Partners With OpenAI to "Automate" Local Journalism

ChatGPT's Computer History has one big privacy problem

The feature stores interaction data locally, but OpenAI says those files aren't encrypted. We've already covered how ChatGPT's Computer History feature lets the Mac app remember what users have been doing across apps and websites, using interaction events such as clicks, typing, and app switching rather than screenshots or recordings. However, a rather uncomfortable detail in OpenAI's official documentation is that the files containing that history aren't encrypted. Your Mac history is stored as plain text OpenAI says Computer History temporarily stores interaction events on the Mac and deletes those event files after 48 hours. It then creates local memories as plain-text Markdown files. More importantly, OpenAI explicitly warns that these files aren't encrypted and other programs running as the same macOS user may be able to access them. That's significant because Computer History is designed to capture a fairly broad picture of what someone does on their Mac, similar to Microsoft's Recall feature for Windows. It doesn't record the screen, audio, or video, but the interaction data can still reveal which apps and websites someone used, what documents they interacted with, and other potentially sensitive activity. The problem is what else is already on the Mac The biggest risk isn't necessarily someone breaking into ChatGPT. It's malware or another malicious application already running under the same macOS user account. If that software can reach the local files, the lack of encryption potentially gives it another source of information about the user's activity. There's also a broader concern with giving AI systems this much context. Malicious instructions hidden inside websites or other content could potentially influence what an AI sees in its history, creating a prompt-injection risk on top of the underlying data exposure. Thankfully, Computer History is opt-in, and OpenAI gives users controls to exclude apps and websites and delete entries. That's certainly better than silently recording everything. But the documentation makes the trade-off much clearer: the more ChatGPT remembers about your Mac, the more sensitive information it potentially leaves behind. And when that information isn't encrypted, that's a compromise worth thinking twice about before switching the feature on.

ChatGPT Can Now Remember Actions You Takr on Your Mac

However, OpenAI admits there are privacy and security risks to the feature, so users should exercise caution before trying it. If you use ChatGPT on your Mac, and you have the right type of account, you'll soon be able to start asking your bot questions about how you use your computer. As highlighted by 9to5Mac, OpenAI announced "Computer History" on Thursday, a new feature that lets ChatGPT keep a history of actions you take on your Mac. As OpenAI pitches it, you'll be able to ask ChatGPT about projects you recently worked on, request details about your work "patterns," and turn frequently used tasks into automations. For example, you could ask ChatGPT "What was I working on before I took a break?" and, with Computer History enabled, it can look through your recent activity to deliver your answer. You could also ask about files you remember looking at, but can't find, e.g., "Where is that planning document I was looking at this morning?" How ChatGPT's Computer History works Unlike something like Windows Recall, Computer History doesn't actually take screenshots of your Mac's display to work. It also doesn't record your screen or tap into microphones or system audio. Instead, the feature collects data from the sources you allow it to see. Every time you click, type, use a keyboard shortcut, and switch an app, Computer History takes note. It even watches out for "context" from macOS accessibility processes to inform its records. OpenAI says that Computer History will occasionally save this data as both text summaries and local memory files. The good news for the privacy-minded is that Computer History is opt-in by default. That means it won't work until you manually enable the feature. Even when you do, Computer History won't track everything you do out of the box: You'll be able to choose which apps and sites ChatGPT keeps tabs on, and you can pause "collection" from the menu bar at any time. Private or incognito browsing is never recorded either. There are separate controls for workspace access, personal opt-in, memories, and apps and sites, and you can adjust all of these settings at any time. In addition to asking ChatGPT directly about your history, you can manually review the data the feature collects yourself. Under Settings > Computer history > History, you'll find the local memory file for summaries, options to delete individual items, and the ability to clear a specific timeframe of history, similar to how clearing your history works in a web browser. Is ChatGPT's Computer History secure? The short answer? No. While OpenAI is adamant that the feature stores your data in secure locations away from other apps, it acknowledges that the feature can and does store sensitive information without encryption. As such, programs running as your macOS user may be able to access these files. What's more, the company is open about the fact that Computer History increases your risk of prompt injection attacks, as ChatGPT may follow malicious instructions it sees on the apps and websites it's tracking. OpenAI also processes some of these files on its server in order to generate memories. The company says it doesn't save those files after processing unless required by law, and claims it doesn't use them for training. That said, OpenAI may scrape chat content that uses one of these processed memories in a future chat for training, if you allow the company to train its models off your ChatGPT data. As with AI browsers, there are likely steps you can take to limit your risk exposure while using Computer History, but as it stands, it seems those risks far outweigh the benefits. You might like a feature like this if you frequently forget what you were working on earlier in the day, or if you're looking for an objective analysis of how you use your Mac. But I think there are other systems you can use to stay on task that don't expose you to a privacy invasion or, even worse, a cyberattack. How to turn on Computer History in ChatGPT If you're interested in trying this feature out, it's easy to enable -- assuming you're under the right ChatGPT plan. OpenAI says that Business or Enterprise workspace users will need administrator approval first. If you're a personal ChatGPT user, you'll need to subscribe to ChatGPT Pro for access. Assuming you meet one of the above qualifications, you can get started by opening ChatGPT's Mac app, then, in Settings, head to Integrations > Computer history. Here, choose "Turn on," then review all permissions and settings. You will need to turn on "Memories" if it isn't enabled already, as the app uses the feature for context as you move through chats and tasks. Finally, choose the apps and websites Computer History will track, and enable any macOS permissions required. Under Settings > Computer history > Permissions, you'll find options for "Exclude these apps," "Exclude these websites," "Include only these apps," and "Include only these websites" that will let you fine-tune Computer History's tracking to a degree. You can also pause or stop Computer History at any time from your Mac's menu bar.

ChatGPT can now remember what users do on their Mac

ChatGPT now turns Mac activity into memories, timelines and reusable workflows OpenAI is giving ChatGPT a new way to understand how you actually work on your computer. Called Computer History, the feature turns activity across apps and websites into a timeline and memories that ChatGPT and Codex can use later. The idea is fairly simple: instead of asking ChatGPT to remember something you previously discussed, you can ask it about work you recently did on your Mac. The feature can help you pick up where you left off, understand patterns in how you work, and even turn repetitive workflows into reusable skills or automations. Recommended Videos The rollout began on August 13 and is now rolling out globally to Pro, Business, and Enterprise members. In the next few weeks, users in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland will get access. OpenAI announced the debut in a series of X posts, describing Computer History as a development of the Chronicle research preview. The new version uses fewer tokens and provides better privacy protections than the previous preview, the company says. The computer history becomes a timeline ChatGPT can understand Computer History records interaction events across apps and websites, rather than continuously capturing what is happening on your screen. OpenAI says it does not capture your screen or audio, which is an important distinction for anyone who is understandably uncomfortable with the idea of an AI watching their desktop. The feature is also opt-in. Your history only starts being collected after you choose to turn it on, and you can decide which apps and websites contribute to the history. The screenshot says users can also view and pause collection from the macOS menu bar and inspect or delete their history whenever they want. That gives the feature a useful middle ground. ChatGPT gets enough context to understand what you have been doing without simply recording everything on your screen. It could make ChatGPT much more useful for repetitive work The bigger promise is what happens after ChatGPT understands your working patterns. Instead of explaining the same process every time, you could ask it to look at how you previously completed a task and turn those steps into a reusable skill or automation. The example in the screenshot shows exactly that approach, with ChatGPT suggesting that a user's launch-update workflow could become a reusable skill. Computer History replaces the earlier Chronicle research preview, but OpenAI describes it as a rebuilt system rather than simply a renamed version. Chronicle relied on screenshots, while Computer History records interaction events instead. There are also some limitations. The feature is currently described as being off by default for ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in the macOS app, and Business and Enterprise administrators must explicitly grant access before members can enable it. The screenshot also says it is not currently available in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom. The interesting shift here is that ChatGPT is moving from remembering conversations to remembering workflows. And if that works as intended, it could make the computer itself part of the context window.

ChatGPT can now build a timeline of everything you do on your Mac

OpenAI has launched Computer History, a new feature for the ChatGPT macOS app that tracks clicks, keystrokes, app switches, and keyboard shortcuts to build a timeline of your activity. The feature is opt-in rather than opt-out, something that is becoming increasingly important when it comes to how apps collect and use user data. Computer History does not capture screenshots, screen recordings, audio, video, or private browsing activity. Users can exclude specific apps and websites, pause recording from the menu bar, and delete individual entries. On Business and Enterprise workspaces, an administrator must enable the feature before users can turn it on themselves. What ChatGPT does with that data is where things get more complicated. Temporary event files are stored on the device for 48 hours before being deleted, but OpenAI's own documentation explicitly warns that the resulting memory files are stored as unencrypted plain-text Markdown. That means other applications running under the same macOS user account could potentially read them. OpenAI says these memory files are not used to train its models, but when those memories are surfaced as context in later chats, the resulting conversations may still be used for training depending on the user's settings. OpenAI is also unusually candid about the risks in its own documentation. It flags prompt injection as a concern, noting that hidden instructions on websites could potentially influence what the AI sees in a user's history. The company advises against using the feature with communication apps and recommends excluding apps that handle health, financial, or other sensitive personal data. The feature is not available in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom. For everyone else, Computer History is off by default and requires users to deliberately enable it.

ChatGPT's new Mac feature records clicks and keystrokes

OpenAI has launched Computer History for the ChatGPT macOS app, an opt-in feature that logs user activity into searchable memories stored as unencrypted plain-text files. The feature records clicks, keystrokes, keyboard shortcuts and app switches, and is available only to Pro, Business and Enterprise users on macOS. OpenAI said Computer History uses macOS accessibility APIs to track interaction events and turn them into structured memories that ChatGPT and Codex can use for context-aware assistance. Ari Weinstein, OpenAI's product and engineering manager, said on X that the feature does not capture screenshots, screen recordings, audio or video, and excludes content viewed in private or incognito browser tabs. Computer History replaces Chronicle, an earlier Codex research preview that relied on periodic screen captures. Temporary event files stay on the device for 48 hours before deletion, after which local memories persist as plain-text Markdown files. OpenAI said it processes raw data on its servers without retaining it afterward unless legally required. The company also said the memory files are not used to train models. OpenAI's documentation says the stored memory files are not encrypted and that other programs running under the same macOS user account may be able to access them. That means malware or another malicious application already on the device could read the activity data without compromising ChatGPT itself. Digital Trends said another concern is prompt injection, in which malicious instructions hidden in websites or documents could affect what the AI sees in its history. The feature has drawn comparisons with Microsoft's Windows Recall, which faced privacy criticism in 2024 over its use of screenshots. Computer History differs by requiring users to opt in and by relying on structured interaction data instead of screen captures. Computer History is unavailable in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. For Business and Enterprise workspaces, administrators must enable the feature before individual users can turn it on. Users can pause data collection, exclude specific apps and websites, and delete individual timeline entries. OpenAI said chats that surface those memories may still be used as training data depending on a user's settings.

OpenAI Wants ChatGPT to Learn How You Work. Its New Mac Feature Raises Privacy Questions

OpenAI may be tracking your keyboard strokes. The latest update from the AI startup enables the company to keep data from MacBook users and use it to train AI models. The new opt-in feature, called "Computer History," turns activity across apps and websites into referential memories for ChatGPT and Codex. It allows the large language models to understand patterns in how users work and turn repeated workflows into skills or automations. Users can control which apps and websites contribute to the AI memorization and can see or pause its collection from the macOS menu bar. Users can inspect or delete the saved history at any time. According to the company's website, Computer History is off by default for ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS. Pro users can choose to turn it on. "It lets ChatGPT learn from everything you do on your computer, so it can better understand how you work, finish tasks that you're in the middle of, and suggest skills and automations based on how you use your computer," Ari Weinstein, product and engineering manager at OpenAI, said on X. According to Weinstein, Computer History will automatically ignore content in incognito or private browser tabs. In a demo video online, OpenAI confirmed that the feature relies on memorizing "events" rather than video, photo, or audio captures on screen. OpenAI and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Privacy tradeoffs Computer History now joins the many other AI companies like Anthropic's Claude, Microsoft's Copilot, and Google's Gemini, looking to advance the AI software through user data.

ChatGPT Can Now Remember What You Do on Your Mac

The result is essentially a searchable timeline of a user's digital activity, allowing ChatGPT to understand what the user was doing across supported apps and websites and help them pick up where they left off. OpenAI has introduced a new opt-in feature called Computer History in the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS, giving ChatGPT the ability to build a searchable record of how users interact with their computers. Replacing the earlier experimental Chronicle feature, Computer History takes a different approach to understanding a user's activity. Instead of continuously capturing screenshots, it uses macOS accessibility features to record interaction events such as clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts and app switching. The result is essentially a searchable timeline of a user's digital activity, allowing ChatGPT to understand what the user was doing across supported apps and websites and help them pick up where they left off. The feature can also identify patterns in a user's activity. Repetitive workflows could potentially be turned into one-click automations, moving ChatGPT beyond simply remembering activity toward helping users reproduce routine tasks. Private-mode browsing is excluded, while users can decide which apps and websites are included. A dedicated macOS menu bar control also allows users to quickly exclude an application from Computer History tracking. These controls are intended to give users greater control over what becomes part of their ChatGPT activity history. The Privacy Question Is Bigger Than the Feature's Opt-In Switch In other words, the privacy conversation surrounding Computer History is not just about what OpenAI collects. It is also about what information is reconstructed, where that information is stored and which other software running under the same user account could potentially access it. Instead of asking, "Where did I see that file?" or "What was I doing before lunch?", users could potentially ask ChatGPT and let their recent activity provide the answer. But the convenience comes with a clear trade-off. Computer History is essentially asking users to give an AI system a much deeper understanding of their digital behaviour. Even with opt-in controls and exclusions, users should consider carefully which applications they allow it to monitor. A sensible approach would be to start small -- enable Computer History for low-sensitivity applications, review the information it creates locally and understand exactly what is being remembered before expanding access.

ChatGPT Could Soon See Everything You Do: Productivity Boost or Privacy Risk?

Security risks: Greater AI context and computer access could increase exposure to prompt injection and other attacks. ChatGPT has taken a major step beyond the usual chatbot model. OpenAI has introduced a new Mac feature called Computer History, which can record computer activity across selected apps and websites. The feature creates a timeline that ChatGPT and Codex can use later to recall past work, find files, understand tasks and offer more useful help. The feature arrived in August 2026 and has quickly raised both excitement and concern. The title 'ChatGPT could soon see everything you do' sounds extreme, but it reflects a real shift in AI. Computer History does not give ChatGPT a constant video feed of the Mac screen. Instead, the system records events such as clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts and app switches. It does not capture screenshots, video, audio or microphone input.