Microsoft will release controversial Windows Recall AI search feature to testers in October
Microsoft Chair and CEO Satya Nadella speaks on the company’s campus in Redmond, Washington, on May 20, 2024.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
Microsoft said Wednesday it will release its controversial Recall artificial intelligence search feature for Windows users to test beginning in October.
Recall takes screenshots of activity on screen so people can search for information they saw earlier. Security researchers quickly expressed concerns about the risks of Windows automatically capturing images, without users opting in. Researchers released open-source software showing how personal information might become easily accessible to attackers. Microsoft responded in June and said Recall would be turned off by default. It also committed to security enhancements for the feature.
Microsoft did not specify the timing for a broader release for Windows computers that meet the system requirements for the Recall feature, which the company calls Copilot+ PCs. Microsoft unveiled this new class of Windows PCs from a variety of device makers that can run AI workloads and showed Recall running on them at an event in May.
Microsoft corporate vice president of windows and devices Pavan Davuluri speaks about Recall during the Microsoft May 20 Briefing event in Redmond, Washington, on May 20, 2024.
Jason Redmond | Afp | Getty Images
Device makers are keen on showing that people can run AI models on their local PCs, rather than relying on cloud-based servers from OpenAI or other companies to service their requests. Apple has released MacBooks that can run AI models, and Microsoft’s newest Surface Pro is a Copilot+ PC that can also run local AI.
Timing for the wide release of Recall might be critical. Consumers could be more interested in buying new computers during the holiday season if Microsoft brings Recall to all devices that support it by then.
“With a commitment to delivering a trustworthy and secure Recall (preview) experience on Copilot+ PCs for customers, we’re sharing an update that Recall will be available to Windows Insiders starting in October,” Microsoft said in Wednesday’s update to a June blog post. “As previously shared on June 13, we have adjusted our release approach to leverage the valuable expertise of our Windows Insider community prior to making Recall available for all Copilot+ PCs.”
Security has become a higher priority for Microsoft’s rank-and-file engineers. In the current fiscal year that started July 1, the company will evaluate cybersecurity contributions in employee reviews that will factor into pay. The company promised to revamp security processes after a Department of Homeland Security report in April on China’s breach of U.S. government officials’ Microsoft-based email accounts raised several concerns.
“We continue to prioritize security above all else,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts on a July conference call.
A drone operator loads a Walmart package into Zipline’s P1 fixed-wing drone for delivery to a customer home in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, on March 30, 2023.
Bunee Tomlinson
Zipline, a startup that delivers everything from vaccines to ice cream via electric autonomous drones, expanded its service to the Dallas area on Tuesday through a partnership with Walmart.
In Mesquite, Texas, about 15 miles east of Dallas, Walmart customers can sign up to receive orders within 30 minutes, delivered on Zipline’s newest unmanned aerial vehicles, known as P2 Zips.
The drones are capable of carrying up to eight pounds worth of cargo within a 10-mile radius, and can land a package on a space as small as a table or doorstep. The company, which ranked 21st on CNBC’s 2024 Disruptor 50 list, plans to expand soon in the Dallas metropolitan area.
Zipline CEO and co-founder Keller Rinaudo Cliffton said P2 Zips have “dinner plate-level” accuracy. They employ lift and cruise propellers and feature a fixed wing that helps them maneuver quietly, even through rain or gusts of wind up to 45 miles per hour.
In the delivery process, a P2 Zip will hover around 300 feet above ground level and dispatch a mini-aircraft with a container called the delivery zip, which descends on a long tether and moves into place using fan-like thrusters before setting down and allowing package retrieval.
Both the P2 Zip and the delivery zip use cameras, other sensors and Nvidia chips to determine what’s happening in the environment around them, and to avoid obstacles while making a delivery.
In March 2025, Zipline announced that its drones have logged more than 100 million autonomous miles of flight to-date, a number equivalent to flying more than 4,000 loops around the planet, or 200 lunar round trips, the company said in a video to mark the milestone.
Since it began operations in 2016, Rinaudo Cliffton said, Zipline has completed around 1.5 million deliveries, far more than competitors in the West. Wing, a Zipline rival focused on residential deliveries, has reported more than 450,000 deliveries since 2012.
Zipline initially focused on logistics in health care, making deliveries by drone to clinics and hospitals in nations where infrastructure sometimes impeded timely access to life-saving medicines, blood, vaccines and personal protective equipment. The company, valued at $4.2 billion in a 2023 financing round, is now making deliveries in Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Japan and the U.S., and expanded well beyond hospitals and clinics.
In addition to Walmart, customers include Sweetgreen, Chipotle and other quick-serve restaurants, as well as health clinics and hospital systems such as Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic.
Zipline’s launch in Mesquite comes days after President Donald Trump’s announcement of widespread tariffs roiled markets on concern that companies would face rising costs and a slowdown in consumers spending. Rinaudo Cliffton said he doesn’t anticipate massive impediments to Zipline’s business, as its drones are built in the U.S., with manufacturing and testing in South San Francisco.
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