Microsoft delays the launch of its controversial Recall AI feature

Microsoft’s Recall AI feature will not launch with the first batch of Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs on June 18. update on Windows blog, the company said Recall would be moving next week from a “widely available preview experience for Copilot+ PCs” to one available only in the Windows Insider program. It will only release the feature for all Copilot+ PCs after receiving feedback from its Insider testing community.

The company added that it is adjusting Recall’s release to “ensure the experience is up to par.” [its] high standards of quality and safety. “Microsoft has faced a lot of criticism related to Recall since it announced the feature at an event in May. Recall gives users a way to find everything they’ve ever viewed on their computer – pages Web, images, documents, emails, presentations, threads, etc. It works by taking screenshots of a user’s activity every few seconds and then storing them in the “Reminder Timeline.” “.

When it launched, Microsoft assured users that Recall processed data locally and would keep their information secure, but that wasn’t enough to assuage critics’ privacy concerns. The company announced more privacy and security changes for Recall earlier this month, including making it opt-in. When a user sets up a Copilot+ PC, their Windows operating system will ask them if they want to enable the feature. Users will also need to verify their identity through a Windows Hello authentication method, such as facial recognition or fingerprint scanning, before they can access Recall’s encrypted timeline. This is not a foolproof method, however, since anyone who knows their PIN will still be able to see their reminder snapshots.

Despite these changes, Microsoft has chosen to delay the launch of Recall. Perhaps the company realized that there was room for improvement and that it was best to be absolutely sure that the feature wouldn’t end up becoming a huge privacy and security nightmare. At the moment, there is no exact date yet for the availability of Recall in the Windows Insider program. It will, however, be available to testers in the coming weeks and the company will publish a new blog post explaining how to get its preview version when it is released. Testers will need a Copilot+ PC to access it, however, as the feature will only work with advanced processors equipped with Neural Processing Units (NPUs) for AI tasks.