Microsoft’s flagship artificial intelligence boosted search feature for its cobranded Copilot + PCs is coming out of the doghouse as the company prepares a new window of testing starting October.
Microsoft yanked its flagship Copilot + PC feature, Recall, the weekend before its partners were set to market and sell a new wave of AI powered laptops amid concerns of potential security debacle for Windows users.
While most of the OEM partners were left with a Recall-sized marketing holes in their budgets, laptop makers could at least fall back on the improved battery life that came with these new Copilot + PCs. Meanwhile Microsoft was left with a rather big egg on its face and promptly shifted to the back of the AI services line as Apple and Google announced and began testing their own variants of similar features.
However, it looks like the company spent the past two months listening to the concerns of cybersecurity experts and will reintroduce Recall to Windows Insiders with more stringent data privacy considerations in place.
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.
Pavan Davuluri – Corporate Vice President, Windows + Devices
With Recall having access to practically everything on a Windows users computer to capture, index, and deliver snapshots or “thumbnailed” screenshots of all activity on a PC, it posed a unique but credible security risk for all users who opted to use it.
Unfortunately, Microsoft pulled a Microsoft and halfheartedly tried to roll it out to the public before doing its due diligence. First without fully explaining the user-enabled filtering options, and then began evaluating it only a few weeks before public release, where those assessing it had to opt-out of the feature rather than allowing it them to opt-in to the invasive platform.
On its second go-around, Microsoft is looking to address the red flags that were raised before its initial release by turning off Recall by default and allowing users to opt-in during setup, enrolling users into Windows Hello bio authentication to use Recall so access to data and content in the platform are linked to facial recognition or thumbprint.
Presumably, the plain text doc that stored all the Recall gathered data and was the major catalysts for cybersecurity experts plead with Microsoft to hold on to the release, has been removed or buried in closed-end encryption.
There are other filters and user-enabled controls Microsoft already announced that Recall will support out of the gate like local storage of data, end-to-end encryption, and filters for when Recall can run and which apps it can source for its snapshots.
Ideally, Microsoft will use this Insider testing period to also borrow ideas from its competitors attempts at similar functionality such as possibly offering a manual capture toggle for users to use during periods where Recall is active, thus putting the weight of security on the users’ shoulders and off itself.
