ChatGPT's macOS app adds feature that tracks your computer activity

OpenAI has introduced a new feature called Computer History for its ChatGPT desktop app on macOS. It tracks the user's actions on their computer and builds a timeline that ChatGPT and the coding tool Codex can reference when responding to requests.

The feature learns how a person works and, based on that, can suggest automations or pick up tasks that were left unfinished. A demo video shared by Dominik Kundel, a member of OpenAI's Developer Experiences team, shows the app locating the last document he edited, checking whether it had been shared with others via Slack, and generating a recap of how he spent his morning.

User control

Unlike many other tracking tools, Computer History is opt-in rather than opt-on-by-default, meaning users must actively turn it on. People can exclude specific apps or websites from being tracked and delete individual entries for finer control over what data is kept. Ari Weinstein, OpenAI's Product and Engineering manager, said on X that the feature automatically ignores content viewed in incognito or private browser tabs.

Comparison to Windows Recall

The feature draws comparisons to Microsoft's controversial Windows Recall tool, though there's a key difference. While Windows Recall relied heavily on screenshots, OpenAI says Computer History does not capture images, video, or audio, instead relying on what it calls "events."