Microsoft has announced that it will not be releasing its controversial AI Recall feature with its upcoming updates next week. The feature, which takes screenshots of users’ laptops every few seconds, has come under scrutiny from the Information Commissioner’s Office due to security concerns.
In a blog post on Thursday, Microsoft stated that Recall will not be “broadly available” from June 18 on Copilot+ PCs. Instead, it will be released to the Windows Insider Programme testing group “in the coming weeks.”
“This decision is rooted in our commitment to providing a trusted, secure, and robust experience for all customers and to seek additional feedback,” said Pavan Davuluri, a vice president at Microsoft.
The delay follows warnings from cybersecurity experts about the potential risks of the feature. Muhammad Yahya Patel, lead security engineer at Check Point, described the feature as a “grab and go” target for criminals. “With Recall, [criminals] will essentially have everything in a single location,” Patel explained, emphasizing the risk of a “one-shot attack.”
Recall is designed to leverage artificial intelligence and “photographic memory” to help users easily find and remember things they’ve seen using natural language. For instance, a user shopping online for a red lamp could later search “red lamp” in Recall, which would pull up relevant screenshots and links to the websites they visited. The feature also searches through pictures, documents, presentations, and files on the user’s laptop and suggests possible actions related to their search.
However, the potential for misuse by hackers has raised significant concerns. “As a [hacker], the first thing I’d do is go and look at all the screenshots of what you’ve been doing recently to understand your behavior,” noted Charlie Milton, a vice president at cybersecurity firm Censornet.
In response to these concerns, Microsoft has implemented additional security measures for Recall. One such measure is a “just in time” decryption tool, ensuring that Recall snapshots are only decrypted and accessible when the user authenticates themselves.
On Thursday, Microsoft President Brad Smith faced questioning in the US Congress regarding recent security breaches involving Russian and Chinese hackers. Smith informed Congress that Microsoft will now link executive bonuses to cybersecurity performance and integrate security considerations into every employee’s performance evaluations.
The delay in releasing the Recall feature underscores Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to balance innovation with security and user trust. As the company continues to address the feedback and concerns raised by both experts and users, it remains to be seen how the feature will evolve before its eventual broader release.
