Windows

‘Recall’ in Windows uses AI to search everything you’ve done on a ‘Copilot+ PC’

Ben Schoon | May 20 2024 - 11:08 am PT

Microsoft is today showing off its vision for the future of AI in PCs, with one of the biggest announcements being “Recall,” a new AI feature for “Copilot+ PCs” that can effectively search anything you’ve done on your Windows PC.

The new “Copilot Runtime” in Windows 11 leverages the more powerful NPUs of next-gen chips for Windows machines, including what’s found in the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus. The new set of AI models – Microsoft says there are over 40 at play – will be capable of adding new AI features over time.

The first of these new AI features is “Recall.”

Microsoft says that “Recall” will be able to use AI to effectively search anything and everything you’ve done on Windows. The feature, as Microsoft showed off at its event today (which was not livestreamed), can do things such as recovering browser tabs from “weeks ago” or finding a specific Discord message you sent. A timeline feature will be able to show you what you were working on previously in a scrollable format. Even videos and audio are transcribed in real-time so you can search them too.

The feature is compared to your laptop having a “photographic memory.”

Now with Recall, you can access virtually what you have seen or done on your PC in a way that feels like having photographic memory. Copilot+ PCs organize information like we do – based on relationships and associations unique to each of our individual experiences. This helps you remember things you may have forgotten so you can find what you’re looking for quickly and intuitively by simply using the cues you remember.

Microsoft says that Recall runs entirely on-device and that none of the data generated will be used in training AI models.

Other AI features Microsoft showed off include AI upscaling for photos and using Copilot for tips in Xbox games and in Minecraft.

Recall and other AI features will debut on “Copilot+” PCs which, for now, will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chip. Intel and AMD chips with the required NPU power (40 TOPS) will be coming later. These features won’t be available to older machines.