Microsoft Addressing New Privacy Concerns Regarding AI and ‘Recall’ Feature

During Microsoft Build 2024, the tech company announced its new ‘Recall’ feature, built for the new Copilot+ PC platform. Able to take and store snapshots of user data locally, Recall can draw from the data for subsequent queries and commands.

As Microsoft revealed, Recall can use snapshot information to better assist users. The feature is built around the ability to read, organize, and store information locally so it can guide users and answer their questions down the road. For example, Microsoft claims Recall can remember where a file is stored so if a user asks Copilot+ where it is, it can quickly find and provide it. This same feature can read prior browsing data. If a tab is closed or a web page is lost or forgotten, a user can request Copilot pull it back up, even if the query only uses vague or loose terms.

The news that Copilot+ PCs, including the new Surface Laptop and Surface Pro, could record and store data quickly drew the ire and concerns of users across the internet. In an age when users are becoming more aware of how corporate tech giants are using personal data and how it is stored, Recall became a topic of conversation.

Throughout Microsoft Build, the company attempted to get ahead of any spiralling narratives that Recall would use locally stored data. For instance, in a Microsoft Blog post, the company states, “Recall leverages your personal semantic index, built and stored entirely on your device.” Speaking with Corporate VP Pete Kyriacou, iPhone in Canada was given a glimpse into how many customizable settings will be available to tailor what Recall can access and how often.

Kyriacou showed off Recall’s ‘Settings’ page on Windows 11. “If you want to control how much storage is being consumed, you can use this storage setting,” Kyriacou says. Here, there’s a straightforward “hammer drop” toggle users can select to disable Recall completely. If turned off, the device won’t create any snapshots during use.

However, there are settings in place to curate when Recall deletes information is used for a snapshot. In the Settings menu, users can select how often Recall deletes information. “ If you want to delete specific snapshots, you can,” Kyriacou confirms. “Say from the past hour, you can delete them or you can delete all of them.” Additionally, users can block specific apps from being used by Recall. Whether this is to free up resources if say Spotify won’t be relevant to future queries or there’s an app you’d like blocked for privacy, it’s all possible.

Kyriacou also confirms that at launch, Microsoft will allow users to add and block specific webpages from being used by Recall on Edge. This is an exclusive feature of the Edge browser at launch. “You can go ahead and add wellsfargo.com or any kind of application that you may not want it to track. Any kind of website, you can put that in as well.” At launch, Microsoft’s Edge will be the only browser to support this ability. For Chrome or users of other browsers, the alternative would be to completely disable Recall’s ability to snapshot that browser. Unfortunately, that then leaves Recall rather impractical.

Even with these security stopgaps in place at launch, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has already launched an investigation into Recall. The data regulator is reportedly looking into Microsoft’s AI tool to “rigorously assess and mitigate risks to people’s rights and freedoms” prior to the feature launching on devices. It’s not yet known how in-depth the investigation will be or how long it’ll take the regulators before rendering an educated verdict on Recall.