ChatGPT Mac's Computer History feature

Computer History is an opt-in feature in ChatGPT's Mac desktop app that records user activity across permitted apps and websites using macOS accessibility APIs, capturing clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, and app switches rather than screenshots or audio. Temporary event files are stored locally for up to 48 hours, after which OpenAI processes them server-side to generate memories written back to the Mac as plain-text Markdown files. OpenAI's own documentation states those memory files are not encrypted and that other programs running as the same macOS user can potentially read them. The feature replaces the earlier Chronicle research preview, which relied on screenshots; Computer History does not capture screen images, microphone input, or system audio, and OpenAI says it uses fewer tokens and offers more privacy controls than Chronicle. It also extends context to Codex. Users can query their recorded activity with natural language prompts, such as requesting a task status list or locating a document worked on the previous day. Controls allow excluding specific apps and websites and deleting entries, and the Memories option must be enabled for activity to persist across sessions. OpenAI has acknowledged that malicious instructions embedded in apps or websites could be captured into the activity context, constituting a prompt-injection risk. Security researchers have previously demonstrated that ChatGPT's memory system can be exploited via prompt injection to exfiltrate chat history and stored memories to an attacker-controlled server; OpenAI fixed that specific vulnerability.