Microsoft brings back its most controversial Windows AI feature, with beefed up security

Microsoft Recall, the AI-powered search tool for Copilot+ PCs, was quickly delayed after people realized what it did and how it worked. For those who needed a reminder, Recall was touted as the big AI feature for Copilot+. It would continuously take screenshots of your PC, index them, and use generative AI to turn them into a searchable database of your PC history.

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Microsoft's Recall, now with added security and privacy, image credit: Microsoft.

"Hey Recall, what was that funny video I watched last night on YouTube," or "Hey Recall, can you put together a list of all the new sneakers I was looking at a few weeks ago." These are two examples of a potential use; however, early hands-on with Recall showed that its screenshots were not only unencrypted but would contain sensitive material like banking information, and the database itself was an indexed wet dream for hackers.

Well, Recall is coming back, and in a new Microsoft blog post, the company has outlined how this latest version is designed with "security and privacy in mind" and core principles like ensuring sensitive data is always encrypted and that other users won't be able to access encryption keys.

It pairs with Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security for all access, with a PIN as a fallback method in case a sensor like a camera is damaged. Recall is now also opt-in, won't be enabled by default, and can be removed entirely from Windows. Recall screenshots or snapshots and all associated data are now stored within a "secure VBS Enclave" and are only accessible when a user is actively using the Recall feature.

Microsoft describes VBS Enclaves as "a revolutionary change in our security model for [an] application, allowing an app to protect its secrets using the power of VBS from admin-level attacks."

All in all, this new version of Recall sounds a lot better - and if you're interested in the technical details, be sure to read the full post by David Weston, Vice President of Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft. However, you do have to wonder why Recall wasn't like this in the first place.

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