OpenAI's Computer History turns Mac activity into ChatGPT memories

OpenAI is shipping the memory feature that turns your computer's activity into assistant context — and it's designed to avoid the privacy blowup that sank Microsoft's version. Also: Microsoft quietly retires its Clippy-like mascot.

OpenAI launched Computer History, an opt-in feature for ChatGPT and Codex on macOS that turns your activity across apps and websites into memories and a timeline. Rolling out to Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in the ChatGPT desktop app, it lets ChatGPT answer questions like "What was I debugging yesterday?" or "Where did I leave off on that PR?" — pulling the relevant files from Google Docs, Slack, or open browser tabs without you re-explaining the context. OpenAI is clearly trying to avoid the Microsoft Recall debacle: no screenshots and no audio, just interaction events like clicks, typing, and app switches, with everything stored locally, off by default, excludable per app, and pausable from the menu bar. The feature replaces the Chronicle research experiment, which relied on screen capture and OCR, and 9to5Mac notes that Business and Enterprise admins must enable it for their teams, with users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland following in the coming weeks.

The take: memory is becoming the assistant battleground — an AI that knows where you left off beats one you have to brief from scratch. But note what OpenAI kept for itself: raw activity stays on-device, yet the model still gets summaries of it, which may be enough for privacy-minded users — and their employers — to leave the switch off.

Microsoft is retiring Mico, the emotive yellow blob it launched as a Clippy successor, from Copilot's voice mode. A support page says the avatar is moving to Microsoft's Learn Live platform, where it will have "more to react to," per The Verge and GeekWire. It's a quiet end for a mascot that was meant to give Copilot a personality — and a sign the brand is consolidating as Microsoft starts merging Copilot apps into a super app.

What to watch: whether enterprise admins actually switch Computer History on — and how OpenAI handles the feature under the EEA's local-data rules.

Would you let ChatGPT watch your computer activity to build memories, or is that a step too far? Tell us in the comments.

Sources: The New Stack · 9to5Mac · ChatGPT Learn docs · The Verge · GeekWire · Microsoft support