Windows 11 new AI feature Recall gives your PC a memory

Microsoft has announced a new Windows 11 AI feature for Copilot+ PCs, called Recall, that can search and retrieve from your activities.

The capabilities of Recall, which Microsoft has referred to internally as AI Explorer, are extremely broad - it involves recording actions you take within applications, monitoring communications during live meetings, storing all websites visited for research purposes, and more. To use it, you just need to initiate a "Recall" function, which is similar to an AI-powered search, and it will provide a snapshot of that period along with context about the memory.

Think of it as a photographic memory for your computer. It captures screenshots periodically, recording what you see on your screen. This allows you to search through a visual timeline, pinpointing past interactions with applications, websites, and documents with ease. You can also search live meetings and videos thanks to Live Captions, which transcribes and even translates speech.

In the past, Microsoft experimented with a less advanced version of this technology in Windows 10 through Timeline, but eventually discontinued it in 2021. This decision was influenced by the existence of a comparable application for Mac computers called Rewind. Rewind, which operates on M-series Macs, functions similarly to Recall by recording your activities, monitoring meetings, and offering a chatbot for retrieving information. The key distinction lies in Recall's deep integration within Windows, as opposed to Rewind, which is an external application requiring installation and granting of system permissions.

Recall won’t work with every Windows 11 computer. You’ll have to buy a “Copilot Plus PCs” powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite chips, which have the neural processing unit (NPU) required for Recall to work.

There are also minimum storage requirements on PCs to use Recall, as pointed out in the feature’s FAQs page:

The minimum hard drive space needed to run Recall is 256 GB, and 50 GB of space must be available. The default allocation for Recall on a device with 256 GB will be 25 GB, which can store approximately 3 months of snapshots. You can increase the storage allocation for Recall in your PC Settings. Old snapshots will be deleted once you use your allocated storage, allowing new ones to be stored.

According to Microsoft, the upcoming feature will initially be available for a limited number of languages, including English, Chinese (simplified), French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.

The idea that your personal computer is tracking your every digital movement could potentially trigger worries about privacy protection. Microsoft offers reassurance to users by clarifying that the gathered information remains locally confined within your own device and is not transmitted to remote storage locations.

Recall allows you to pause, stop, or remove content that has been captured. You can also choose to exclude certain apps or websites from being recorded. Recall will not take snapshots of InPrivate browsing sessions in Microsoft Edge or content protected by digital rights management (DRM), according to Microsoft. However, Recall does not actively moderate or hide sensitive information like passwords or financial account numbers.

The introduction of Recall signifies a significant shift in how we interact with our computers. Providing a new sense of personal experiences and eliminating tedious information retrieval processes. The impact of this functionality on work settings is causing worry among users, who are concerned that companies will exploit the tool to excessively control their employees, in addition to concerns about privacy. As Recall progresses and becomes more accessible, it has the capacity to redefine how we harness the capabilities of our personal computers.