Microsoft's contentious all-knowing Recall AI capability will not be included with Copilot Plus PCs and is being postponed.
Next week, Microsoft plans to release its new Copilot Plus PCs without the divisive Recall feature, which records screen grabs of everything you do on the new laptops. After initially pledging to offer Recall as an opt-in feature with extra security enhancements, the software manufacturer is withholding Recall so it may test it with the Windows Insider programme.
In a revised blog post, Microsoft states, "We are adjusting the release model for Recall to leverage the expertise of the Windows Insider community to ensure the experience meets our high standards for quality and security." “We will release a blog post with instructions on how to obtain the preview of Recall when it becomes available in the Windows Insider Program.”
This implies that nobody purchasing a Copilot Plus PC or Windows Insiders will be able to use Recall at first. Earlier today, I mentioned in Notepad that Windows engineers were working very hard to test and deploy the security updates in time for the Copilot Plus PC launch on June 18. Microsoft is effectively acknowledging here that it requires further time to test the security enhancements in Recall.
Since Microsoft initially introduced the Recall function last month as a part of its future Copilot Plus PCs, security experts and privacy groups have warned that, if left unchecked, Recall could be a "disaster" for cybersecurity. Last week, Microsoft promised to make three significant changes to Recall: encrypting the database, requiring Windows Hello authentication, and turning the AI-powered function on by default.
Recall captures screenshots of almost everything you see or do on your computer using local AI models included into Windows 11, allowing you to search and retrieve stuff you've seen. You can go through these images to relive your PC activities on a specific day by using an explorable timeline. Since everything in Recall is meant to stay local and private on the device, Microsoft's AI models aren't trained on any data.
Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith spoke before the House Homeland Security Committee today, immediately following Microsoft's decision to postpone Recall. Smith stated that as part of its Secure Future Initiative (SFI), Microsoft is prioritising security above everything else. According to Smith, "it is even more important than the company's work on artificial intelligence."
Smith also disclosed that Microsoft will require security to be reviewed by all workers biannually. Smith stated, "With this change, cybersecurity will be taken into account in every employee's annual bonus and compensation." As I mentioned before in Notepad, Recall was first developed prior to Microsoft's significant SFI rewrite. Microsoft developed Recall behind closed doors; not even Windows Insiders were used in public testing. Following that, Microsoft discovered that Recall had several security flaws. In recent months, they have been working to create and test fixes for the problem. It is now obvious that more time is needed to ensure that these modifications live up to its pledge to prioritise security over AI and other considerations.
