ChatGPT’s Computer History tracks your clicks and keystrokes
The Verge Terrence O’Brien ● Covered by 3 sources
ChatGPT for Mac now watches your activity to build a Computer History. OpenAI says it can learn your workflow and pick up half-finished tasks, but only if you opt in.
Based on reporting by The Verge, Terrence O’Brien — read the original for the full story.
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ChatGPT’s macOS desktop app has a new Computer History feature, and the name says most of what you need to know. It turns your activity into a timeline that ChatGPT and Codex can refer back to when you ask for help, with the pitch that the app can learn how you work, suggest automations, and even resume tasks you left unfinished.
This is not a silent switch that gets flipped on by default. OpenAI made it opt in, not opt out, and the feature lets people exclude specific apps and websites from the history it keeps. There’s also a deletion option, so users can clear entries if they want tighter control over what gets remembered.
Ari Weinstein, OpenAI’s product and engineering manager, said on X that Computer History will automatically ignore content in incognito or private browser tabs. That’s the sort of safeguard you’d expect when a feature is explicitly built around tracking activity for later use.
The bigger story here is simple: OpenAI wants ChatGPT to remember more of your day, not just answer the next prompt. That makes the assistant more useful in a very specific way, and a lot more intrusive in another. The trade-off is plain enough that the opt-in label matters a lot.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is the kind of feature that sounds helpful right up until it starts remembering too much. OpenAI is betting that convenience beats creepiness, which is exactly the sort of gamble AI companies keep making when they want software to feel personal without admitting it’s also surveillance with a friendlier name.
Read more about this at: The Verge
