Total Recall 📸🕵🏻‍♂️

👀 TLDR

In this week’s What’s Appening, we cover Microsoft’s latest attempt to launch Recall, a controversial AI tool that will constantly screenshot and create a library of your on-screen activity. It’s a great idea for those of us who struggle to remember what we ate for breakfast this morning, but has Microsoft done enough to assuage the fears of privacy campaigners? We also have news on Meta facing antitrust charges, Apple trying to solve its AI issues with user data, the AI shopping app that was actually powered by humans, plus our App of the Week, Stat of the Week, and the latest appenings at 3Advance.

🎬 Our Top Take

📱📵 Microsoft – Another Attempt to Launch Controversial Recall AI

Do you ever struggle to recall a point or a quote from an online article you read in the past? Yes, we have search history, but let’s say you couldn’t remember the name of the website or the approximate date? It might not be text you’re trying to find either; perhaps it’s a meme or a photo. Well, Microsoft is rolling out a solution in beta – Recall. Essentially, Recall is a Windows/Copilot program that screenshots your on-screen activity every few seconds, creating a library that gets cataloged by AI, and which in turn offers you lots of ways to rediscover that lost meme or killer quote for your essay. This is, in fact, Microsoft’s third attempt at rolling out Recall. It tried twice last year, but the program was beset by bugs and concerns over privacy and security. Indeed, a lot of privacy campaigners were freaked out by the surveillance elements of Recall. Now, Microsoft claims to have solved those issues. Users are not obliged to use Recall (we could see some employers insisting on it, though), and it must be enabled rather than an automatic opt-in. Recall’s data is also secured locally on your device, which should mitigate some security concerns. Right now, some say the biggest worry is how power-hungry it is, with estimates saying it’ll use 15% of your computer’s storage space. Recall is expected to roll out gradually over the coming weeks ahead of a grand unveiling at Microsoft Build in May. #TotalRecall Read more here.

📲 App of the Week: The Quiet Collection

This one is near and dear to us! The Quiet Collection from Emily P. Freeman is an app that offers calming, grounding audio reflections designed to help you recenter - whether you’ve got five minutes or just one deep breath to spare. The experience is intentionally simple - from the peaceful music to the gentle pacing. If your screen time could use a softer edge, this one’s worth a listen. It’s available for iOS and Android.

🧐 Stat of the Week: $32B Valuation

📈📉 SSI – Massive Valuation Without a Product (or Website)

Safe Superintelligence Inc. is the brainchild of Ilya Sutskever, one of the rogue co-founders of OpenAI. This week, SSI was valued at $32 billion – somewhere around the value of Spotify or Lyft. Yet, SSI doesn’t really have a product. It claims to be building a safe superintelligence system (basically AI that surpasses humans), but there isn’t much word on what that is or when it will arrive. Even their website is just a vaguely worded mission statement and recruitment page. Sure, investors are going to be privy to insights Joe Blow doesn’t get, but boy that $32B is a hefty figure for an idea that’s still in the works. #SuperValue Read more here.

🗞️ Other Stories

📍 Meanwhile at 3Advance

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