Microsoft CEO boasts about new AI chatbot that will surveil users aided by 'photographic memory'

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently sat down for an interview with the Wall Street Journal to promote his company's new Windows AI Copilot+ computers. Nadella appeared excited about one feature in particular — AI software that will memorize users' every action on the device with photographic clarity.

Critics, particularly those keen on maintaining some modicum of privacy and autonomy in the age of ubiquitous surveillance, have expressed concerns about the "Recall" feature.

'It can recreate moments from the past, essentially.'

Nadella indicated that the company has long dreamt of introducing "photographic memory into what you do on the PC, and now we have it."

"It's not keyword search, right. It's semantic search over all your history," Nadella said enthusiastically. "It's not just about any doc — it can recreate moments from the past, essentially."

The Wall Street Journal indicated Recall "constantly takes screenshots of what's on your screen then uses a generative AI model right on the device along with the [Neural Processing Unit] to process all that data and make it searchable. Even photos."

To run Recall, a PC must have at least 16 GB RAM, 225 GB of storage, and an NPU that can swing 40 tera operations per second.

When the interviewer pressed Nadella about the notion that Recall is "creepy," the tech CEO — whose company recently built a generative AI model for American spies, regularly services the intelligence community, and has suffered major data breaches in recent years — said, "I mean, that's why you could only do it on the Edge. ... You have to put two things together: this is my computer, this is my Recall, and it's all being done locally, right. So, that's the promise."

"That's one of the reasons why Recall works as a magical thing because I can trust it," added Nadella.

Even though Microsoft has vowed to protect users' privacy by granting them the choice of turning off Recall or filtering out what they don't want tracked, some critics are not convinced.

Tesla CEO Elon Muskwrote, "This is a Black Mirror episode. Definitely turning this 'feature' off."

Venture capitalist Roger McNamee noted, "Given that Microsoft has not been able to prevent massive hacks of its servers, this product — which will record everything you do on a Windows PC — qualifies as criminally insane."

"Microsoft's like 'here NSA we made this present for u,'" tweeted Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online.

It appears Microsoft is focused on producing prescient AI bots as well archivists of users' correspondences, written thoughts, and virtual actions.

At a recent Microsoft event in Redmond, Washington, Nadella said Recall is a step toward machines that "instantly see us, hear, reason about our intent and our surroundings," reported MarketWatch.

"We’re entering this new era where computers not only understand us, but can actually anticipate what we want and our intent," added the CEO.

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