Microsoft's Windows Recall AI Feature Set for October Release to Insiders

Microsoft to roll out Windows Recall to Insiders in October

Microsoft announced today that it will start rolling out its AI-powered Windows Recall feature to Insiders with Copilot+ PCs in October. This AI feature takes screenshots of active windows on your PC, analyzes them on-device using a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and an AI model, and adds the information to an SQLite database. You can later search for this data using natural language to prompt Windows Recall to retrieve relevant screenshots. However, privacy advocates and cybersecurity experts have warned that Windows Recall is a privacy nightmare that threat actors would likely abuse to steal user data. Today's update follows the company's announcement on June 7 that it would tweak Recall to be more secure by making it an opt-in feature and ensuring that the database stays encrypted until a user authenticates with Windows Hello when opening the app. One week later, Redmond postponed the Recall launch for further testing due to significant customer pushback, as well as privacy and security concerns. The company also revealed that the feature would first be available for preview with Windows Insiders. This Wednesday, Microsoft once again updated the story announcing the above changes (as first spotted by The Verge), saying that Windows Insiders with Copilot+ PCs will be able to start testing Recall this October. "With a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot+ PCs for customers, we're sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October," Microsoft said. "As previously shared on June 13, we have adjusted our release approach to leverage the valuable expertise of our Windows Insider community prior to making Recall available for all Copilot+ PCs." The company also promised today to prioritize security with the preview Recall installment (which aligns with its recent pledge to prioritize security above all else) and said that more details will be published in a new blog when the feature rolls out.

Microsoft to rollout Windows Recall to Insiders in October

Microsoft announced today that it will start rolling out its AI-powered Windows Recall feature to Insiders with Copilot+ PCs in October. This AI feature takes screenshots of active windows on your PC, analyzes them on-device using a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and an AI model, and adds the information to an SQLite database. You can later search for this data using natural language to prompt Windows Recall to retrieve relevant screenshots. However, privacy advocates and cybersecurity experts have warned that Windows Recall is a privacy nightmare that threat actors would likely abuse to steal user data. Today's update follows the company's announcement on June 7 that it would tweak Recall to be more secure by making it an opt-in feature and ensuring that the database stays encrypted until a user authenticates with Windows Hello when opening the app. One week later, Redmond postponed the Recall launch for further testing due to significant customer pushback, as well as privacy and security concerns. The company also revealed that the feature would first be available for preview with Windows Insiders. This Wednesday, Microsoft once again updated the story announcing the above changes (as first spotted by The Verge), saying that Windows Insiders with Copilot+ PCs will be able to start testing Recall this October. "With a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot+ PCs for customers, we're sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October," Microsoft said. "As previously shared on June 13, we have adjusted our release approach to leverage the valuable expertise of our Windows Insider community prior to making Recall available for all Copilot+ PCs." The company also promised today to prioritize security with the preview Recall installment (which aligns with its recent pledge to prioritize security above all else) and said that more details will be published in a new blog when the feature rolls out.

Microsoft will release controversial Windows Recall AI search feature to testers in October

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella speaks on the company's campus in Redmond, Washington, on May 20, 2024. Microsoft said Wednesday it will release its controversial Recall artificial intelligence search feature for Windows users to test beginning in October. Recall takes screenshots of activity on screen so people can search for information they saw earlier. Security researchers quickly expressed concerns about the risks of Windows automatically capturing images, without users opting in. Researchers released open-source software showing how personal information might become easily accessible to attackers. Microsoft responded in June and said Recall would be turned off by default. It also committed to security enhancements for the feature. Microsoft did not specify the timing for a broader release for Windows computers that meet the system requirements for the Recall feature, which the company calls Copilot+ PCs. Microsoft unveiled this new class of Windows PCs from a variety of device makers that can run artificial intelligence workloads and showed Recall running on them at an event in May.

Controversial Microsoft Copilot+ PC Feature Gets October Release Date

'Security continues to be our top priority,' according to Microsoft. Microsoft will make the controversial "recall" feature for its artificial intelligence-powered Copilot+ PCs available to Windows Insiders users in October. The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant added the new release date to a previous blog post about recall, which was billed as a way for users to find information previously viewed on a PC but derided by security advocates for the potential for threat actors to exploit the automated scraping of users' computer history. Microsoft announced in June it would delay recall even as Copilot+ PCs hit the market. In the updated blog post, Microsoft pledged "a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot+ PCs for customers" and said that "we have adjusted our release approach to leverage the valuable expertise of our Windows Insider community prior to making Recall available for all Copilot+ PCs." "Security continues to be our top priority," according to Microsoft. [RELATED: Microsoft Delays Controversial Recall Feature, Undercutting Copilot+ PC Launch] The Windows Insider program allows users to explore new features and validate applications and infrastructure pre-deployment, according to Microsoft. Kevin Beaumont, director of emerging threats at Arcadia Group and one of the most vocal recall critics, posted to social media network Mastodon on Wednesday to say that "as a community we'll need to test the security implications out extensively." And while plenty of people questioned the security risks recall posed, some in the channel saw ways it can help with productivity. Not much early data on Copilot+ PCs is out there yet, but on Microsoft's most recent quarterly earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella told listeners that "we are delighted by early reviews, and we are looking forward to the introduction of more Copilot+ PCs powered by all of our silicon and OEM partners in the coming months." Windows 11 active device sales increased 50 percent year over year, Nadella said. In July, Gartner reported that worldwide PC shipments totaled 60.6 million units in the second quarter of 2024, a 1.9 percent year over year and marking three consecutive quarters of growth. Still, the research firm concluded that demand for AI PCs such as Copilot+ PC "has been slow, as the product is still in the early introduction stage, and the real benefits of owning such a device are not yet clear to most buyers."