Microsoft's New Recall Feature Sparks Privacy Concerns, Elon Musk Calls It 'Black Mirror'

Microsoft boss Satya Nadella was seen in a video discussing a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tool called Recall, a photographic memory feature, which will "remember and understand everything you do on your computer by taking constant screenshots."

This feature has been added to PCs in addition to Copilot, which was launched last year, replacing Microsoft's voice-assistant Cortana, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Musk Calls Microsoft's New Recall As 'Black Mirror'

In the video, Satya Nadella explained that Recall is not based on keyword search but on semantic search over the user's entire history, enabling the recreation of moments from the past. Elon Musk expressed his disapproval of the feature, stating that he would turn it "off."

The Tesla CEO referred to the feature as reminiscent of a "Black Mirror" episode, referencing the Netflix series that examines the impact of technology on individuals' lives. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk wrote, " This is a Black Mirror episode. Definitely turning this "feature" off."

Criticism of the tool also emerged from other users on social media. One user commented, "Yeah, no thanks. Don't need to pay Microsoft a monthly fee to spy on me," while another remarked, "Bro, they can't even get searching via the start menu right and we're supposed to believe this s*** will just work." A third user recalled issues from the past, stating, "Remember back in the day when Windows would cache snapshots, and they would fill the hard drive and crash everything, making it impossible to use the system?"

Microsoft responded to the concerns by emphasizing that snapshots taken by Recall remain local to the user's PC. Users have the ability to delete individual snapshots, adjust and delete ranges of time in Settings, or pause the feature at any point from the icon in the System Tray on the Taskbar. Additionally, apps and websites can be filtered out from ever being saved. Microsoft assures that users are always in control, with privacy features they can trust, as per media reports.