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Microsoft Sets New Preview Release for Controversial Recall AI Feature
Microsoft's Recall AI feature, which has been on a bumpy road with public sentiment since it was announced at this year's Build conference in May, is back and with a new release window of October.
Recall is a Windows service that operates in the background on compatible PCs, continuously capturing screenshots of user activity. It then scans these images to extract text from them and saves them to a searchable database on the user's PC. The purpose is to provide users with more personalized and specific responses to Copilot queries.
The new feature was almost immediately criticized by the security community over the potential privacy risks associated with Recall. Security expert Kevin Beaumont posted an analysis shortly after the announcement showing how attackers could gain access to the saved personal database with a code injection attack.
In response, Microsoft, required access to the Recall preview to be segmented behind an opt-in window. Furthermoreu, Microsoft enhanced Recall's security capabilities with "just in time" decryption through Windows Hello Sign-In Security (ESS).
After continuous criticisms from the public, Microsoft again changed course in June, pulling access to the preview and alerting the public that it wouldn't be available until it had gone through additional development, citing the decision being "rooted in our commitment to providing a trusted, secure and robust experience for all customers."
Microsoft is now back, and with a new release window for its Recall preview:
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. 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. Security continues to be our top priority and when Recall is available for Windows Insiders in October we will publish a blog with more details.