Microsoft confirms when ‘privacy nightmare’ AI screenshot tool will be coming to your PC
After months of silence, Microsoft has confirmed that it’ll resurrect the controversial Recall feature — once described as a “photographic memory” for your PC — on select Windows 11 devices starting in November. Microsoft has stressed that it’s “listened to feedback” following the initial backlash, when critics branded the tool a “privacy nightmare”, forcing the US company to pull its planned May launch date.
An ex-Microsoft engineer, Kevin Beaumont, warned that Recall is “stealing everything you’ve ever typed or viewed on your own Windows PC is now possible with two lines of code.” The security expert published a lengthy blog post lambasting the feature.
Following these concerns about the privacy of Recall, the UK data protection watchdog confirmed that it would begin “making inquiries” with Microsoft and billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has warned millions of followers on X to ditch the feature. Apple executives mocked the fallout of the flashy new AI feature.
And now, Recall is about to make its return.
In a bid to reassure Windows 10 users, Microsoft has confirmed that users will have the option to completely uninstall Recall — a reversal from its earlier stance.
Since the feature relies heavily on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyse the contents of the screenshots to make them searchable, it will only be accessible on devices with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to handle AI tasks. This prevents these behind-the-scenes processes from slowing down the rest of the machine.
Only so-called Copilot+ PCs arrive with a dedicated NPU at the moment, so you’ll need one of these all-new machines, like the Surface Laptop 7 and Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge.
For those who don’t know, Recall works by taking screenshots — or “snapshots” as Microsoft refers to them — of what’s happening on your screen. Microsoft uses on-device AI to transcribe the text from webpages, Word documents, PDFs, handwritten notes, and everything else displayed on-screen on your PC so that everything can be found with a quick search.
Think of it like a Google search for everything you’ve done on your laptop.
For example, if you know you were looking at flights to Spain in the last month — you could search for the destination to find the exact webpage. With a single click, Windows 11 will summon the document, picture, video or webpage to pick up where you left off. You can also scroll back in time through the screenshots, which are captured hundreds of times every hour and can be stored for months at a time.
Yusuf Mehdi, Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft, described Recall as a “photographic memory” for your laptop. Mehdi wrote: “We set out to solve one of the most frustrating problems we encounter daily – finding something we know we have seen before on our PC.
“Today, we must remember what file folder it was stored in, what website it was on, or scroll through hundreds of emails trying to find it. Now with Recall, you can access virtually what you have seen or done on your PC in a way that feels like having photographic memory.”
Following the privacy fears around the initial implementation of Recall, Microsoft has implemented several key updates to enhance the security of the AI tool on Copilot+ PCs. First up, the feature will now automatically filter-out sensitive content, like passwords and credit card numbers.
You can also choose specific apps or websites to exclude from Recall’s data collection. Incognito mode web browsing is never saved, the company has stressed.
Microsoft Vice President of Enterprise and OS Security, David Weston emphasised that PC owners will retain “complete control over their data” and can delete or pause screenshots at any time. To bolster security and address some of the criticism levelled at the feature in Kevin Beaumont’s daming blog post, Microsoft has added encryption to Recall, protected by the Copilot+ PC’s onboard Trusted Platform Module (TPM).
The Redmond-based company has also revealed that it’s working with a third-party security vendor to conduct penetration testing for the new-and-improved Recall. On top of that, Microsoft has introduced malware protection features like rate-limiting and anti-hammering.
Microsoft has confirmed that you’ll need to actively opt-in during the set-up of your machine to start using Recall — it will be switched off by default, another U-turn from the intial announcement. Sensitive data in Recall is always encrypted and only accesisble after your identity has been verified by Windows Hello, which uses a fingerprint scanner or facial scanner, depending on the hardware built into your machine.
Microsoft exec David Weston adds: “If a user proactively chooses to turn it on, it will be off, and snapshots will not be taken or saved.”
To alleviate concerns that Microsoft is quietly taking screenshots of everything that happens on-screen, the software giant has confirmed plans to introduce a new icon in the system tray that will always indicate when Recall is collecting snapshots — so the process is as transparent as possible, making it easier to pause the process at any time. Microsoft states that “everything that’s found in Recall can be deleted at any given time”.
In a significant reversal, Microsoft has confirmed that Copilot+ PC owners will be able to completely uninstall Recall. This new option will be available through the Turn Windows Features On And Off menu, which can be found via the taskbar search box.
To remove Recall, you’ll need to uncheck the feature in this menu and click OK. After a Windows 11 reboot, Recall and all related processes will be completely removed from the PC.
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With the introduction of Copilot+ PCs back in June, there are now two distinct types of Windows 11 devices — those with cutting-edge AI features and those with the standard bundle of features available on desktop PC, tablets and laptops that don’t meet the Copilot+ PC certification. The latter is the version of Windows 11 that will be available to Windows 10 users who take advantage of the free upgrade.
Windows 10 will lose support next year, cutting out millions of users from critical bug fixes and new features — unless they pay an annual fee to Microsoft.