Microsoft has, after much controversy and delay, released its Recall AI-driven feature to public preview for Windows Copilot Plus PCs. This essentially means that if you are part of Microsoft’s early release program and if you have a Copilot Plus PC, the feature will be available for you to use. What is puzzling is why Microsoft is continuing to push a feature that is such a huge security and privacy risk.
Microsoft’s Recall feature is part of the company’s push to add AI features to Windows PCs – in this case, Windows PCs that have a neural processing unit (NPU), which is a fancy way of saying ‘AI co-processor.’ In simplistic terms, Recall takes periodic snapshots of a user’s screen, then stores that shot, as well as the text from that screen and stores it in a searchable way. If you want to recall browser tabs you accidentally closed, or find a document, or some other work you did in the past, Recall’s AI-based collection and search of what you’ve been doing makes it easy to find things. It’s an appealing idea, who hasn’t been frustrated in losing a document or a piece of research? However, Recall is one of those ideas that appears great as a concept but has significant problems when it meets the jagged rocks of the real world.
Passwords, confidential data, personal information, and banking information could all be captured and stored by Recall. Microsoft claims it has taken steps to keep this from happening but given what is at stake it’s difficult to simply take their word for it (no pun intended). Further, having an exact record of everything you are doing on your PC is morally, legally, and for some, physically dangerous. Consider someone in a relationship researching advice on divorce or resources to help get them out of an abusive situation. There could be dire consequences if the abuser finds those searches. Further, Recall could be used as a tool of control to covertly monitor computer usage. For enterprises, it gets even worse. From a legal discovery standpoint, employees’ every action could be subpoenaed in a dispute. There are more issues, and to Microsoft’s credit, they are trying to address all of them with limitations and encryption.
But just because Microsoft can implement the Recall feature, that doesn’t mean it should. From a higher-level perspective, our society has become data-obsessed. Recording everything a person does on computers isn’t healthy for society. Not only is it chilling to the idea of free speech and free inquiry, but the list of harms bad actors could pursue with that data is nearly limitless. Even the vast amount of data already being collected does not justify the dangers that Microsoft Recall represents.
Microsoft is investing billions into AI and their desire to drive AI into everything is perfectly understandable from a business perspective. But money and the current AI frenzy across the technology industry don’t justify continuing to push out Recall. It was a good idea that isn’t going to pan out and not just for technical reasons. Enterprises and customers should push back hard. Microsoft needs to see that Recall is a mistake, an honest mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Microsoft will take far less reputational damage by admitting that and withdrawing Recall than it will if it continues to push forward despite being warned about it from all quarters.
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