OpenAI's ChatGPT Computer History tracks your actions to automate tasks
Unlike Windows Recall, ChatGPT's new feature logs events, not screenshots.
OpenAI has introduced Computer History for the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS, a new opt-in feature that tracks user clicks and keystrokes to create a timeline of activity. Unlike Microsoft's Windows Recall, which relies on periodic screenshots, Computer History records only event-based data—no images, videos, or audio. This timeline can then be referenced by both ChatGPT and Codex, enabling the assistant to understand recent work, suggest automations, and even resume tasks left incomplete.
According to Ari Weinstein, OpenAI's Product and Engineering manager, the feature automatically ignores content from incognito or private browsing tabs. Users have granular control: they can exclude specific apps and websites from tracking, and delete individual entries. In a demo, OpenAI's Dominik Kundel showed ChatGPT looking up the last edited document, checking Slack shares, and delivering a recap of the morning's work. While the feature is designed to feel less creepy than Windows Recall's visual approach, the fact that it silently monitors everyday behavior—albeit with consent—will still prompt privacy debates among professionals.
- Computer History is opt-in and tracks clicks/keystrokes as 'events', not screenshots or audio.
- Users can exclude specific apps and websites from tracking, and incognito browsing is automatically ignored.
- ChatGPT and Codex can use the timeline to recap tasks, suggest automations, and pick up half-finished work.
Why It Matters
Gives AI assistants contextual memory of your workflow, but raises privacy trade-offs professionals must weigh.