Microsoft full throttle Press down artificial intelligence the technology is facing greater scrutiny from regulators concerned that the conglomerate is violating consumer privacy.
The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant was busy this week with its annual Microsoft Build event developer conferencewhere he announced the modern line laptops equipped with AI hardware and support for AI applications. One modern feature in particular stole the show – but not in the way Microsoft had hoped.
The feature, called Recall, uses artificial intelligence to create a “photo memory” of a user’s activity on the laptop, which can then be searched. In other words, Recall continuously takes screenshots of user activity on the computerregardless of whether they are looking for modern recipes on the Internet, watching videos or using applications.
“We can essentially recreate moments from the past” – Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft he told the Wall Street Journal..
Microsoft’s announcement of this feature was met with positive reception immediate response from privacy advocates and consumers, including Tesla CEO and founder of xAI Elon Musk. The tech giant also has to worry about the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data watchdog, which told the BBC that Contact Microsoft for more information about the recall.
An ICO spokesman told the BBC that companies must “rigorously assess and mitigate risks to people’s rights and freedoms” before bringing modern products to market, especially those that are potentially invasive.
Microsoft says Recall snapshots are stored locally on computers, encrypted, and can only be accessed by the person whose profile was used to log in to the computer. Users will also be able to filter out specific apps or websites before scanning, stop collecting snapshots and delete some or all of the snapshots saved on your device.
“We know privacy is essential,” Microsoft said in a statement blog post Monday. “The Copilot+ computer is designed so that even the artificial intelligence running on your device cannot access your private content. Additionally, IT administrators can apply Microsoft Intune to disable Recall before saving snapshots, and modern policies will be introduced later to enable IT departments to centrally filter specific applications and websites.”
