Microsoft Expands AI Feature Recall for Windows 11 in Europe


Microsoft has released the AI feature called Recall for Intel and AMD computers in the current Windows Insider Preview. The company also expanded the testing of Recall to the European Economic Area, including Germany. To use this AI feature in Windows 11, a device must have a Copilot+ rating and a sufficiently powerful AI accelerator. Recall was already available for the ARM-based Snapdragon-X1 chip from Qualcomm two weeks ago.

Recall allows users to access content they have previously viewed on their computers, helping them find edited documents more quickly and search through text and image content. The tool regularly saves screenshots and uses artificial intelligence to analyze their content, creating a searchable timeline. Users must actively consent to data storage to use Recall. Due to concerns about sensitive content being captured, Microsoft initially withdrew the tool for revision.

According to Microsoft, Recall encrypts screenshots on the hard drive and processes them with the internal NPU. A filter is designed to obscure sensitive data like account details or passwords. Users can exclude specific websites and programs from Recall. Screenshots are locked in the preview version of the AI application. Users can unlock their captures using Windows Hello with a PIN or biometric data. Automatic or manual deletion of screenshots is also possible.

The preview includes a test version of Click to Do, part of Recall. Similar to Google’s “Circle to Search,” users can select content on the screen across all programs using the Windows key and mouse click, allowing AI-supported analysis and internet search. Some features of Click to Do, like summarizing or rewriting texts with Microsoft’s small language model Phi Silica, are initially available only on computers with a Snapdragon-X processor. These features will eventually be available for Intel and AMD users.

The Windows 11 preview expands Microsoft Paint with the Cocreator. Based on a self-drawn image and a prompt, AI generates a new image. Similar to Bing’s image generator, users can now create images locally in the Photos app using a text prompt, which then appear as a feed in the application. Users can also transform existing photos into different styles using generative AI. The Photos app requires a separate update to version 2024.11120.1001.0 or higher.

To test Windows Recall, users need a Copilot+-capable device with an AI accelerator of at least 40 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second), an eight-core CPU, 256 GB of storage, and 16 GB of RAM. Users must register for the Windows Insider Preview and be logged into Windows 11 with the same account. The Dev Channel can be selected through update settings. After restarting, an update with build number 26120.2510 should be available. Microsoft also recommends updating NPU drivers.

Screenshot capture can be enabled in the operating system’s privacy settings under “Recall & Snapshots.” Users must have at least one biometric feature set up in Windows Hello, which requires Secure Boot and BitLocker. In the Enterprise and Education versions of Windows 11, Recall is disabled by default, but administrators can enable the feature, and end users can activate it on their devices.

More information about the AI features can be found on the Windows Insider Blog.