ChatGPT can monitor your work on Mac. The feature has arrived in Europe too

In mid-August, OpenAI introduced the Computer History feature, but it remained forbidden in Europe. This changed on August 20 – the company made it available in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK. The offering is accompanied by several warnings, directly from its creator.

What is recorded

The feature lives in the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS and collects clicks, typing, and switching between applications, as well as texts and context that the system makes available via assistive technology interfaces. From this, it builds a timeline and short summaries, which ChatGPT and the programming agent Codex then draw upon. What is not recorded: screenshots, microphone, or system audio, and incognito browser mode does not appear in the record at all.

Nothing starts automatically

This is important. Computer History is disabled by default and will remain so until you enable it yourself in the settings under Integrations. You need a Pro, Business, or Enterprise plan and active memory for this. In corporate environments, an administrator must first approve it – and even then, each user must opt-in separately. Data collection can be paused at any time using the icon in the top bar, and you can specify which applications are allowed to be recorded on an app-by-app basis.

Three warnings from OpenAI itself

The function’s documentation contains sentences worth reading before you flip the switch. Firstly: files may contain sensitive information, Computer History does not encrypt them, and other programs running under your user account may access them. Temporary files disappear after 48 hours, but created memories remain on disk as plain text until you delete them.

Secondly, it concerns other people. OpenAI recommends disabling the feature when communicating with others unless you have their explicit consent – otherwise, the content of chats, emails, and video calls will end up in your summaries. And thirdly, there is prompt injection, meaning hidden instructions embedded in a webpage or application that can manipulate artificial intelligence. The company itself admits that Computer History increases this risk.

The question remains what goes to the servers. Recording takes place locally on the Mac, but temporary files are sent to OpenAI for the creation of summaries. The company claims it does not keep them or use them for training. However, it’s different with a completed memory – once you use it in a later conversation, the content of such a chat can contribute to model improvements, depending on how you have data controls set.

Would you let artificial intelligence monitor what you do on your computer?

Source: Notebookcheck, OpenAI