Back in June if you, er, recall, Microsoft decided not to roll out the controversial Recall feature for Copilot AI PCs that screenshots everything you do. Now Microsoft has delayed Recall again, appealing for time to "refine" the feature.
Indeed, after Recall was delayed in June, the plan was to roll it out for testing for Windows Insiders members within a few weeks. That plan was then punted out to October. But even that limited aspiration has now been canned and it seems Microsoft isn't confident enough to release Recall merely as a beta feature for testing.
“We are committed to delivering a secure and trusted experience with Recall. To ensure we deliver on these important updates, we’re taking additional time to refine the experience before previewing it with Windows Insiders,” Brandon LeBlanc, senior product manager of Windows, told The Verge, adding "originally planned for October, Recall will now be available for preview with Windows Insiders on Copilot Plus PCs by December.”
Lest you have forgotten, Recall uses AI algorithms running locally on a PC to screenshot everything you do on your computer, creating an timeline you can scroll through and search.
However, security researchers discovered that the Recall database which stores all those screenshots wasn't encrypted, opening up a massive security chasm. After all, if Recall captures nearly everything you do, that can easily include private correspondence, banking details, the works.
Along with addressing that basic security concern and several others, Microsoft is also making Recall an opt-in feature as opposed to default and enabling Copilot PC users to completely uninstall it.
The Recall database is now fully encrypted, which is welcome even if it's hard to believe that wasn't the case from the get go, and access to Recall is now only possible through Windows Hello authentication.
Whether Microsoft will hit even the modest December testing deadline remains to be seen. As for the question of when Recall might be implemented as an official feature for Windows 11 Copilot PCs is anyone's guess. It's good that Microsoft now seems to be taking a cautious approach.
But the whole debacle only serves to reinforce the broader impression of an AI industry that's chucking everything against the wall, hoping something sticks and isn't worrying too much about the consequences in the meantime.
