Yesterday Microsoft held a small event that deserved a much bigger one. First of all, because it represents a real turning point in the PC world. The first computers with dedicated AI chips (Microsoft calls them Copilot+ computers) offer promising developments, but the most notable was undoubtedly Recall (“Memories”).

To remember. This function is essentially a “photographic memory” that collects everything we do on our computer so we can access that information later when we need it. We searched for a product on the Internet and don’t remember where we found it? An email where we say something to an acquaintance? Is it a document in which we make this or that change? Remembrance shows us.

how does it work. This tool never stops taking screenshots of what we do on our computer and then extracts information from these screenshots because artificial intelligence has the ability to explain what these screenshots show. From here, a huge semantic index is created where tags, images, text, and other metadata are intertwined. What we do with Recall is a semantic search that leverages all the collected data and screenshots to show us exactly what we’re looking for.

It won’t run on your current PC. Recall requires a processor with an advanced NPU (Neural Processing Unit) to work. Specifically, the requirement is that it be able to deliver 40 TOPS, a performance measure in AI operations. Current Intel and AMD chips are around 10-15 TOPS on their NPUs because they are not designed specifically for that area, but the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Copilot+ is designed for PCs.

How much disk space does it use? Yusuf Medhi, one of Microsoft executives, announced that three months of Recall data will take up approximately 25 GB of space on our hard disk. This is undoubtedly a considerable amount, but users will be able to free up space by deleting data.

What happens to our privacy?. One word: local. Everything is recorded, processed and executed on our laptop, and there is no data transfer to the cloud (which is also involved). Microsoft had already stated during the conference and on its website that all data in this “Memories” feature is protected by device data encryption and screenshots are not shared with other users or made available to Microsoft. They are clear that this massive data collection in Redmond raises suspicion and assure that there is no risk to privacy. Elon Musk disagrees and claims it’s like “an episode of Black Mirror.”

You can customize (or disable) Recall. This function is certainly interesting, but any user can control its operation by excluding websites or applications (“saving what I did in Firefox”), deleting content or even completely disabling the taking of screenshots to disable this collection of information. The recall does not capture private browsing sessions on Edge or DRM-protected content. Be careful with sensitive information: Recall does not hide passwords or checking account numbers; for example: if they appear as plain text on the screen, Recall will remember them and show them to us because that’s what it was designed for.

This reminds us of Timeline. Microsoft had already launched a similar feature in Timeline that appeared in Windows 10. This feature could not take screenshots smoothly and was not fully adopted. In fact, Microsoft gave up on this in 2021. macOS users also have a similar utility called “Rewind”, but here the power of NPUs allows these addition and semantic search operations to gain a few integers.

We don’t want this! The reception to this feature has been uneven: there are both positive and negative comments on Twitter, with many people on Threads or Reddit wondering why they would want such a thing, criticizing Recall for being invasive, and worrying that the webcam should have been there before. Remembrance is covered and will now be more than a “cover”. On the Ars Technica discussion forum, it is argued that this option is dangerous because it poses new risks to users’ security and privacy. These comments suggest that if someone breaks into our computers, they will be able to access everything we do on them, and malware poses new threats here too.

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