OpenAI has launched Computer History for the ChatGPT macOS app, an opt-in feature that logs user activity into searchable memories stored as unencrypted plain-text files.
The feature records clicks, keystrokes, keyboard shortcuts and app switches, and is available only to Pro, Business and Enterprise users on macOS.
Today we’re releasing Computer History in ChatGPT.
It lets ChatGPT learn from everything you do on your computer, so it can better understand how you work, finish tasks that you’re in the middle of, and suggest skills and automations based on how you use your computer. pic.twitter.com/xnTq7hWH8O
— Ari Weinstein (@AriX) August 13, 2026
OpenAI said Computer History uses macOS accessibility APIs to track interaction events and turn them into structured memories that ChatGPT and Codex can use for context-aware assistance. Ari Weinstein, OpenAI’s product and engineering manager, said on X that the feature does not capture screenshots, screen recordings, audio or video, and excludes content viewed in private or incognito browser tabs.
It will automatically ignore any content in incognito or private tabs!
— Ari Weinstein (@AriX) August 14, 2026
Computer History replaces Chronicle, an earlier Codex research preview that relied on periodic screen captures. Temporary event files stay on the device for 48 hours before deletion, after which local memories persist as plain-text Markdown files.
OpenAI said it processes raw data on its servers without retaining it afterward unless legally required. The company also said the memory files are not used to train models.
OpenAI’s documentation says the stored memory files are not encrypted and that other programs running under the same macOS user account may be able to access them. That means malware or another malicious application already on the device could read the activity data without compromising ChatGPT itself.
Digital Trends said another concern is prompt injection, in which malicious instructions hidden in websites or documents could affect what the AI sees in its history.
The feature has drawn comparisons with Microsoft’s Windows Recall, which faced privacy criticism in 2024 over its use of screenshots. Computer History differs by requiring users to opt in and by relying on structured interaction data instead of screen captures.
Computer History is unavailable in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. For Business and Enterprise workspaces, administrators must enable the feature before individual users can turn it on.
Users can pause data collection, exclude specific apps and websites, and delete individual timeline entries. OpenAI said chats that surface those memories may still be used as training data depending on a user’s settings.
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