Microsoft's New Recall Feature Sparks Spying Concerns, Elon Musk Links It To 'Black Mirror'

A video of Microsoft chief Satya Nadella in which he is describing a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) tool has caught the attention of billionaire Elon Musk, who criticised the development saying he will turn this feature "off". In the now viral clip, Mr Nadella is talking about photographic memory feature called Recall that will "remember and understand everything you do on your computer by taking constant screenshots". As per a Microsoft blog, Recall will be added to the PCs in addition to Copilot, another AI-powered tool launched last year as a replacement to Microsoft's voice-assistant Cortana.

"It's not keyword search, it's semantic search over all your history. And it's not just about any document. We can recreate moments from the past essentially," said Mr Nadella.

The video has gone massively viral on X, amassing more than 16 million views. Among the users who responded on the new tool is entrepreneur Elon Musk.

This is a Black Mirror episode.

Definitely turning this “feature” off. https://t.co/bx1KLqLf67

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2024

"This is a Black Mirror episode. Definitely turning this "feature" off," Mr Musk said in his post. It is a reference to Netflix series 'Black Mirror' in which several individuals grapple with the manipulative effects of cutting edge technology in their personal lives and behaviours.

Other users too criticised the new tool, claiming it promotes spying.

"Yeah, no thanks. Don't need to pay Microsoft a monthly fee to spy on me," commented one user. "Bro they can't even get searching via the start menu right and we're supposed to believe this s*** will just work," said another.

"Remember back in the day where Windows would cache snapshots and they would fill the hard drive and crash everything and make it impossible to use the system?" said a third user.

Microsoft said Recall will store the data on a user's device. "Your snapshots are yours; they stay locally on your PC. You can delete individual snapshots, adjust and delete ranges of time in Settings, or pause at any point right from the icon in the System Tray on your Taskbar. You can also filter apps and websites from ever being saved. You are always in control with privacy you can trust."