Microsoft has announced that its controversial AI Recall feature will not be released with the rest of its updates next week. This decision comes as the Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO) is currently investigating the feature over security concerns.
In a blog post on Thursday, Microsoft stated that Recall will not be “broadly available” from 18 June on Copilot+ PCs. Instead, it will be released to the testing group Windows Insider Programme “in the coming weeks”. Pavan Davuluri, vice president at Microsoft, explained that this delay is due to the company’s commitment to providing a trusted, secure, and robust experience for all customers and to gather additional feedback.
The postponement comes after cybersecurity experts expressed concerns about the feature, with one expert from Check Point calling it a “grab and go” target for criminals. “With Recall, criminals will essentially have everything in a single location,” said Muhammad Yahya Patel, lead security engineer at Check Point. “It is a one-shot attack, like a grab and go.”
Recall is designed to use artificial intelligence (AI) and “photographic memory” to help users easily find and remember things they have seen. For example, if a user spots a red lamp while shopping online, they can search “red lamp” in Recall days later to pull up screenshots of the times they were looking at a red lamp and link them to the websites they were on. It can also search through pictures, documents, presentations, and files and suggest relevant actions for the user.
However, concerns were raised about the potential security risks of the feature, prompting Microsoft to add extra security precautions. These include a “just in time” decryption tool, which means that Recall snapshots will only be decrypted and accessible when the user authenticates themselves.
The ICO has confirmed to Sky News that their investigation into the feature is still ongoing. This news comes after Microsoft president Brad Smith was grilled in the US Congress over “a cascade of security failures” where both Russia and China were able to hack its systems. Smith told Congress that the company will now tie executive bonuses to cybersecurity and make it a part of every employee’s performance review.
In light of these developments, Microsoft’s decision to delay the release of Recall reflects their commitment to ensuring a secure experience for all customers. The company will continue to gather feedback and make necessary adjustments to the feature before its release to the public.