OpenAI is giving ChatGPT a memory of how you actually use your computer.
The company rolled out a feature called Computer History in the macOS desktop app this week. It quietly turns your daily actions into a useful timeline. The tool studies how you work and suggests ways to automate parts of it. It can even pick up tasks you left half finished.
The feature logs a stream of events from your activity. ChatGPT and its coding assistant Codex can reference that timeline when you make a request. In a demo, the app found the last document a user had edited. It checked whether that file had been shared with teammates in Slack. Then it produced a short recap of how the person spent the morning.
Computer History is opt-in, not opt-out. Users can exclude certain apps and websites from the record. They can delete individual entries whenever they want. Ari Weinstein, a product and engineering manager at OpenAI, said the feature ignores incognito and private browsing tabs by default.
The idea echoes Microsoft’s Windows Recall. That tool captured screenshots of your screen and drew heavy criticism. OpenAI picked a lighter approach. Computer History does not save images, video, or audio. It only records events that describe what you did.
The launch fits OpenAI’s broader push into the desktop. The company keeps adding agent tools that reach into your apps. The goal is an assistant that knows your work well enough to finish jobs for you. That promise is powerful, but it carries real privacy weight. A record of your every click is a sensitive thing to store.
OpenAI insists the controls stay in your hands. You can block apps, wipe entries, and keep private tabs off the timeline. Whether that is enough comes down to how much you trust the company. The feature is rolling out now on macOS, with no word yet on a Windows version.
Source: The Verge
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