“This is a Black Mirror episode,” remarked Musk on Monday night in response to a video featuring Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and The Wall Street Journal. “Definitely turning this ‘feature’ off.”
Musk’s reference appears to allude to the Black Mirror episode titled “The Entire History of You,” where individuals in a futuristic society have memory implants that record and replay their memories.
Microsoft’s new “Recall” feature involves Windows operating behind-the-scenes to capture screenshots of all on-screen activities. Users can later enter queries into the AI-powered search tool, and Recall will analyze the screenshots to retrieve relevant past moments. This functionality surpasses simple text-based keyword searches, as the AI tool can identify and match images to text queries.
For some users, this feature could prove beneficial, allowing them to revisit content they remember visually but can’t precisely name. Conversely, for others, such as Musk, the persistent recording and capture of all computer activities may seem excessive and reminiscent of surveillance.
Nadella addressed potential user concerns about the intrusive nature of the new feature by emphasizing that “It’s all being done locally.” He explained that the local implementation of Recall ensures user trust as the data resides exclusively on their computers.
Disabling the Recall feature is straightforward. Users whose computers have this feature can turn it off by navigating to the settings menu: Privacy & Security > Recall & Snapshots. From there, users can toggle off the “Save Snapshots” option. Additionally, users who wish to keep Recall active but exclude specific websites can add their URLs to an exclusion list in the same settings menu.
“We are at the very early stages of understanding how our relationship with AI agents should be shaped by us primarily because that’s the only way to build trust,” added Nadella. “It’s a personal, maybe even spiritual, decision of how we want to [do that].”
