Windows 11’s Recall feature has caused controversy lately, so much so that Microsoft has actually discontinued the feature (for now) – but a new discovery won’t fan those particular flames. It could even be useful for those who eventually take the plunge with the now-delayed AI-powered functionality.
As discovered in the new preview build 26236 for Windows 11 (in the Canary Channel) by regular leaker @PhantomofEarth on .
Windows Recall gets a new “search the web” action for text detected by screenray in snapshots. (disabled by default, build 26236.) pic.twitter.com/NsGM2CGHCvJune 12, 2024
To recap: Recall is an AI feature designed specifically for Copilot+ PCs that regularly takes screenshots of your PC’s activity, saves it to a library, and makes it searchable through Microsoft’s Copilot AI in Windows.
The new ‘Search Web’ feature allows the user to right-click on any text detected in a screenshot taken by Recall, and a search will be initiated for that selected text (presumably in the user’s default search engine – although we can’t see the function in action).
The ‘Search Web’ option is present in Recall’s right-click menu (in a snapshot) next to the ‘Copy’ and ‘Open With’ options.
New AI settings in Windows 11
X user @alex290292 responded to @PhantomofEarth’s post with another interesting observation that there are also new AI-related settings in this Windows 11 preview build.
New under “Privacy and security” pic.twitter.com/pB6FA22DxoJune 12, 2024
These are in the Settings app, under ‘Privacy & Security’, where there is a ‘Generative AI’ panel that allows you to fine-tune which apps are allowed to use generative AI capabilities. Apparently you can also view the past seven days’ activity to see which apps have requested to use generative AI.
To see all this for yourself, you’ll need to install the preview build and use a Windows configuration tool (ViVeTool) to enable ‘hidden’ Windows 11 features – not something we’d recommend to anyone but an enthusiast who feels comfortable tinkering with test builds.