On August 13, OpenAI released the Computer History feature, bringing activity memory and timeline support to the ChatGPT desktop app for Mac. Unlike the previous Chronical feature, which relied on screenshots, the new functionality directly uses macOS accessibility features to record user actions such as clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, and app switching, converting them into structured memories. This enables the AI to quickly generate work summaries or help users locate recently accessed files. In terms of privacy, interaction events are temporarily stored locally for up to 48 hours, while text-only memories remain until manually deleted by the user. Currently, this feature is available only to ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscribers, and may become a key battleground in the competition among AI assistants.Author and source: AIBase
On August 13, OpenAI released a blog post introducing the Computer History feature as an optional update, replacing the previous Chronicle research preview, to bring activity memory and timeline support to the ChatGPT desktop app for Mac. Unlike Chronicle, which relied on screenshots to build its memory, the new feature directly uses macOS accessibility features to record interactive events, including clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, and app switching, transforming user Mac activities into structured memories.
This mechanism enables ChatGPT and Codex to quickly generate work summaries or help users locate recently viewed files without requiring them to restate the context each time. Fundamentally, OpenAI is transforming “context” from something users manually provide into something the system automatically captures—AI’s understanding of what you’re doing no longer relies on screenshots you supply, but instead stems from real behavioral traces at the operating system level.
Privacy by design: locally stored for 48 hours, then automatically deleted
In terms of privacy, Computer History automatically excludes private browsing activity; interaction events are temporarily stored locally for up to 48 hours and then deleted after the server generates memories based on them, while plain text memories remain locally until manually cleared by the user. This “upload events to the cloud, discard original data immediately” design aims to strike a balance between enhanced functionality and data minimization, addressing prior concerns about excessive collection of user screen content through screenshot-based approaches.
From an availability perspective, OpenAI currently invites only ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscribers to experience this feature, with Business and Enterprise users requiring administrators to enable it first before workspace members can access it. This feature is initially unavailable in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK, with geographic restrictions likely tied to stricter local data protection regulations. As AI assistants evolve from “conversation tools” into “partners who understand your work,” system-level memory features like Computer History may become the next battleground for competition—but user acceptance of being “recorded everything” will determine whether this becomes a useful standard feature or another privacy minefield.