Kris Carlon / Android Authority
TL;DR
- After weeks of delays, Microsoft has shared that Recall for Copilot Plus PCs will open public testing in October.
- The controversial screenshot-mining system faced harsh security and privacy concerns when first announced.
AI and controversy go hand in hand, and one of the more contentious developments occurred earlier this year, when Microsoft revealed its plan to introduce Recall for Copilot Plus PCs. The system would continually take screenshots while you use your PC, process that imagery with AI, and then allow you search through them to reference later. After months of waiting, we’re finally learning when Microsoft intends to open up Recall to its first public testers.
Recall immediately drew concern from privacy advocates, fearing that the mere existence of this massive record of everything you did on your PC represented an unnecessary privacy liability — just think how exposed you’d be if anyone ever got access to that. And indeed, early analysis by an independent researcher only raised anxiety about how Microsoft planned to implement Recall.
The company appeared to take these concerns seriously, and quickly announced some changes to how Recall would work. Whether because of, or in spite of that, Microsoft also ended up pushing back its Recall release plans. But while we had a specific date for availability before, Microsoft stopped short of saying anything definitive about a timetable.
Today that changes, and Microsoft announces that it’s now planning to open up Recall to Windows Insider testers this coming October (via CNBC). The company explains:
…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.
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft points to security as a focus during this delay, but also to trustworthiness, indicating that it may also be refining how Recall analyzes its screenshots in order to draw conclusions in response to your queries.
Recently, Microsoft Recall found itself drawing a lot of comparisons to Pixel Screenshots on the new Pixel 9 series. While there was some early anxiety over just how Recall-like Google’s own AI-powered screenshot-archiving tool would be, we’ve since determined that characterization to be far from accurate.
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