OpenAI gives ChatGPT a memory of Mac activity

OpenAI has introduced Computer History, an opt-in macOS feature that lets ChatGPT and Codex draw on a record of activity across selected applications and websites, extending AI memory beyond conversations and into users’ everyday computer workflows.

The feature creates memories and a chronological timeline from interaction events generated as people type, click, switch applications and navigate websites. Users can subsequently ask ChatGPT about work they were doing earlier, retrieve the context surrounding a document or project, or allow Codex to use that information while completing tasks.

Computer History is disabled by default and requires users to activate it. People can choose which applications and websites contribute information, pause collection, inspect timeline entries and delete individual items or their history. Private-browsing activity is excluded.

Unlike screenshot-based approaches to computer memory, the system records interaction events rather than screenshots, screen recordings, microphone input or system audio. That distinction is central to OpenAI’s attempt to give its desktop assistant persistent contextual awareness while limiting the amount of sensitive visual information being captured from users’ screens.

The technology replaces Chronicle, an earlier research preview that used screen context to help Codex build memories. OpenAI describes Computer History as a rebuilt system rather than simply a renamed version of Chronicle, with the newer design moving away from screenshots towards structured interaction events.

The practical objective is to reduce the amount of information users repeatedly provide when beginning an AI task. A person who worked across a browser, communication application, document editor and development environment could, for example, ask what they had been working on, locate material viewed earlier or resume a task without manually reconstructing the preceding sequence of activity.

That capability moves ChatGPT further towards becoming a persistent desktop assistant rather than a service that primarily responds to information entered directly into a conversation. Computer History can preserve useful context concerning recurring workflows, preferences, technology stacks and repository conventions when memory is enabled, giving Codex additional information when handling development work.

The development fits OpenAI’s broader push towards agentic computing, where software can remember context, operate applications and carry work across sessions. Codex has been expanded this year with computer control, an integrated browser, image generation, memory and support for parallel agents capable of working with desktop applications without requiring every step to be directed manually.

Usage patterns are also moving beyond Codex’s initial audience of software developers. Research examining Codex activity during the first half of 2026 found its active user population had expanded more than fivefold, with adoption increasingly extending into organisational and non-development work. More than 10% of users managed three or more concurrent Codex agents during at least one point each week, while 26.6% used reusable skills for complex workflows.

Computer History nevertheless introduces a sensitive trade-off. An assistant capable of understanding previous desktop activity can provide substantially more contextual help, but the information required to deliver that benefit may reveal work habits, communications, browsing patterns and relationships between projects that would otherwise remain scattered across separate applications.

OpenAI has therefore positioned user selection and deletion controls as fundamental elements of the system. Enterprise deployments add another layer: administrators can determine whether Computer History is available by role, after which individual employees must still choose whether to enable it. Enterprise users can also pause collection, manage included applications and websites and inspect or remove timeline entries.

Privacy scrutiny around desktop software is intensifying beyond AI products. Academic analysis published this month examining 1,000 macOS applications found that 85% accessed user-data APIs without corresponding disclosure in the mechanisms studied, illustrating the wider difficulty users face in understanding how desktop applications handle information.

Availability is also being handled differently by region. Computer History is offered through the ChatGPT desktop application on macOS, while OpenAI says the feature is not currently available for Enterprise users in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom or Switzerland. Memory-related features have historically received additional regional controls, reflecting the more restrictive privacy environment governing personal-data processing in those markets.