Anything out of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) headquarters has significant beyond itself. The company nicknamed “Mr. Softie) on Friday started letting people test Recall, its so-called photographic memory search feature for the latest Copilot+ PCs. It doesn’t work perfectly, based on an initial evaluation.
It’s also a long time coming. Microsoft first touted Recall in May as a prominent feature that would only be available for cutting-edge Copilot+ PCs running the Windows 11 operating system, like the latest Surface Pro. Executives said Recall would use artificial intelligence to take screenshots of your computer screen as you use it, so you can later use keywords to search for words or objects that are present in images you’ve previously seen.
A backlash from cybersecurity experts about the potential risks of Recall, however, led Microsoft to revamp it. The company encrypted Recall’s underlying database and set the feature to be turned off by default. In August, Microsoft said Recall would reach testers in October.
Now the feature is available for certain Copilot+ users. Those whose computers contain Qualcomm Snapdragon chips and neural processing units for AI tasks can download and install a build that comes with Recall. PCs must be enrolled in the dev channel of the Windows Insider Program to be eligible. Copilot+ PCs with AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) or Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) chips are out of luck for now.
MSFT shares squeezed 13 cents to $417.13.