Microsoft Recall

Recall is a feature of Windows 11 that takes a screenshot of a user's desktop every few seconds and then uses on-device large language models to allow a user to retrieve items and information that had previously been on their screen. It was announced by Microsoft, alongside the integration of GPT-4o into Copilot and an upgraded user interface in Windows 11. Recall's release immediately caused controversy, with experts warning that the feature could be a "disaster" for security and privacy, particularly since there was initially no option for users to disable it. This backlash prompted Microsoft to postpone its rollout. Microsoft changed the feature to opt-in and provided instructions for how to remove it.

Backlash against Recall was centered on both security and privacy. Upon its release, Recall was described as a "potential security nightmare". The initial version of Recall saved all data to a plaintext database, making it easy for the data to be stolen. Later versions of Recall have added encryption.