Microsoft begins rolling out Recall feature to developers as AI PC push continues

Microsoft (MSFT) is preparing to roll out its long-delayed artificial intelligence-powered Recall feature for Windows 11 PCs to developers as part of its Windows Insider program.

The company initially announced Recall back in May when it debuted its Copilot+ PCs, AI PCs that have a specific set of features for running native AI applications. Recall is designed to capture screenshots of the various tasks you perform while using your computer, whether that’s browsing the web or working on a document.

The idea is for you to be able to search through Recall’s screenshots and then be able to take action on them. Say you were searching for flights and hotels for an upcoming trip or doing research for a work project but closed out your browser. You’d be able to search Recall for information related to those topics and pull up the appropriate screenshots.

With Microsoft’s Click to Do feature, which is also in preview, you’d then be able to take action on those screenshots. For instance, you’d be able to copy text, navigate back to the website Recall captured, or edit images.

It sounds very convenient for keeping track of your activity and going back to tasks you need to finish, but Recall immediately set off alarm bells among security researchers and privacy experts. The fear is that hackers or other cyber criminals could gain access to Recall’s screenshots and get their hands on sensitive user data.

Microsoft subsequently made a series of changes to Recall including making it an opt-in feature, rather than an opt-out feature, meaning users have to choose to use it instead of it automatically being available.

The company also said Recall screenshots, or Snapshots as Microsoft calls them, are encrypted and can only be accessed using the company’s Windows Hello authentication feature. You can also choose whether or not Recall saves information from specific websites. The app will also recognize when you’re entering sensitive information like credit card numbers, passwords, and other personal identification numbers and temporarily stop saving screenshots.

Microsoft also says you’ll be able to disable Recall through the Windows settings menu and that the feature is automatically removed from PCs that are managed by administrators for work and school.

The Recall preview will initially only be available for Windows 11 laptops running Qualcomm’s (QCOM) Snapdragon processors. Intel (INTC) and AMD (AMD) laptops will have to wait.

All of this is part of Microsoft’s effort to get users to buy into its Copilot+ PC effort. The general idea for the platform is to bring generative AI capabilities to Windows PCs through both on-device and cloud-based AI services.

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Microsoft already offers its marquee AI feature, Copilot, to users, but is continuing to expand on the software to give users more reasons to upgrade to AI PCs.

Microsoft isn’t the only company using AI as a major selling point. Apple has already rolled out its first set of Apple Intelligence features for its iPhone, iPad, and Mac line of products, and Google is outfitting its software and Pixel line of phones with its own AI.

It’s difficult to tell if consumers are truly interested in AI just yet, though. If you want Microsoft’s latest Surface laptop outfitted with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip—an excellent device—you’re buying an AI PC, even if that wasn’t your intention. Ditto if you buy a new iPhone. Even if you’re not interested in the AI features, you’re still buying an AI smartphone.

We’ll have to wait and see just how many users end up taking advantage of AI PC and AI smartphone software and how often they use it to get a better sense of whether the categories are successes in and of themselves.

Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.

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