"Recall" Will Now Be Opt-In: Microsoft Changes New Windows AI Feature After Backlash
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
After weeks of being excoriated by cybersecurity experts, Microsoft is making moves to address concerns over its new AI-powered computer history-saving feature: Copilot+ Recall.
Most notably, Microsoft is switching Recall from a default feature to one that requires a user to opt-in first. The company is making the change before Recall officially rolls out on June 18.
"We are updating the set-up experience of Copilot+ PCs to give people a clearer choice to opt-in to saving snapshots using Recall," wrote Microsoft Windows VP Pavan Davuluri in an official company update on the feature. "If you don't proactively choose to turn it on, it will be off by default."
Last month, Microsoft announced a series of new AI-powered features coming to Windows. One central feature that the company announced was Recall.
Recall takes constant screenshots in the background while a user uses a device. Microsoft's AI then scans the screenshots and makes a searchable archive of all the activity history that a user performed. Which websites were visited, what a user typed into forms - nearly everything is saved.
Cybersecurity experts were immediately concerned. A prominent former Microsoft threat analyst who had hands-on experience using Recall called the feature a "disaster."
It turns out, Recall really does save pretty much everything including text passwords, sensitive financial information, private Google Chrome browser history, and more. And Recall saves it inside a database that can be easily accessed by a bad actor who gains remote control of a user's device.
Making things even worse, Recall was going to be a feature turned on by default, meaning users might not have even been aware of what was going on in the background of their device.
Thankfully, users will now have to opt-in to the feature, fully aware of what they are turning on and what Recall does.
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