The Copilot+ PC is likely to be the first serious challenger to the Apple MacBook's prowess, but one of its key new features has been delayed due to warnings from security experts.

In a blog update, Microsoft postponed the controversial Recall AI feature, which allows users to search and retrieve any item they see while using the PC, to "ensure that this experience meets our high standards for quality and security," and announced that the company would be "working to ensure that this experience meets our high standards for quality and security.

This means that one of the key features that was apparently being developed in secret will not appear in what I have been calling the company's "M1 moment". Let me explain why.

So let's play a game. I'm going to explain exactly how the recall works, so stop me if you notice the huge privacy fear that everyone has. At first glance, this is a great feature. It provides the personal context needed for the onboard AI assistant to actually be useful, and brings up details from the past that might be fuzzy in your mind.

To accomplish this, Recall takes screenshots of your screen as you use the device and stores them in a searchable database RECALL takes screenshots of your screen and stores them in a searchable database.

Security experts are collectively wetting their pants over this potential leak of personal information. In other words, what happens if a malicious vendor gets into your system using Trojan horse type malware? Kevin Beaumont points this out in X. He says that remote access allows hackers to access recalls and collect sensitive data with the help of Microsoft technicians.

That does not mean that Microsoft is sitting this one out. In the same blog, the Redmond crew highlighted several important changes to the way Recall works to "improve privacy and security safeguards." They are:

Internally, developers have been working hard to get this done and dusted for the June 18 launch, but this delay indicates that more work is definitely needed to recalibrate Recall with these safety guards.

Now, Microsoft's headline Copilot+ PC feature has been recalled for now, courtesy of Computex 2024's Best in Show Snapdragon X Elite chipset, these enhanced NPUs and new arm-based What is the point of the systems in the

Fortunately, there are a few features that can still be leveraged. Namely, the horsepower under the hood. Our own testing of the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chipsets at various Qualcomm events yielded impressive benchmark results and proved to be a formidable competitor to Apple's M3 MacBook Air. However, these are reference models only, and we will have to wait to see how the final machine performs.

Besides, several other features tested by Computing Editor Alex Wawro, such as Cocreator for painting, Live Captioning for real-time translation of videos and meetings, and improved Windows Studio effects Windows Studio effects will be included.

There are also a number of third-party applications that have begun to take advantage of this expanded AI power. For example, Adobe is more efficiently leveraging generative capabilities across its Creative Suite, DaVinci Resolve's Magic Mask (which uses AI to identify subjects that can walk in front of floating text) has been accelerated with NPUs, and CapCut's background removal is dramatically accelerated.

This is all an auspicious start, and without breaking any bans, there is definitely a lot to be desired in terms of performance and power efficiency. However, we won't necessarily see this achievement for some time to come. Rather than a completely AI-built OS, it will feel more like a standard Windows 11 PC with a few copilot features here and there; in the words of Mark Spoonauer, who reviewed the Apple Vision Pro, this is truly a "revolution in progress."