OpenAI’s Mac Activity Log Reaches Europe Before Its Docs Catch Up

OpenAI is extending ChatGPT’s memory beyond the chat window. Its optional Computer History feature can turn selected Mac activity into a searchable work timeline for ChatGPT and Codex—but the company’s European availability announcement and its release notes point in different directions.

OpenAI announced on August 20 that Computer History had expanded to Pro, Business, and Enterprise users of its Mac app in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland. The announcement came a week after a broader rollout. Yet, at publication, OpenAI’s Business and general ChatGPT release-note pages still said the feature was unavailable in those markets.

A record of work, not a recording of the screen

Computer History is designed to give ChatGPT and Codex context from earlier computer use, so they can recover selected work activity rather than start from an empty prompt. OpenAI describes the product as an event-based record from approved apps and websites, not a stream of screenshots or screen recordings. Its scope can include clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, and app activity.

The controls around collection

• The feature is optional and off by default. Users can choose which apps and websites are covered, pause collection, inspect individual timeline entries, and delete them.
• Private browsing is excluded. OpenAI also says Computer History does not collect microphone input or system audio through the feature.
• On Business and Enterprise accounts, an administrator must first enable the feature before an individual worker can opt in.

The retention decision remains open

OpenAI’s cited announcement did not define a default retention period for Computer History. That leaves a practical procurement question for organizations considering whether the tool should observe internal development environments, customer systems, or other sensitive applications: deletion controls exist, but the default lifetime of the record was not specified.

The feature also points toward a more active form of desktop assistance. ChatGPT can answer timeline-based questions about prior work, and Computer History can suggest turning repeated activity into a skill or automation that Codex writes. The appeal is continuity: an assistant can recover what a person opened or attempted without requiring them to reconstruct the task in a new prompt.

For European administrators, though, the immediate issue is more basic. A feature that records workplace activity needs unambiguous regional guidance before it can be responsibly enabled. OpenAI’s announcement establishes its intended expansion; the still-conflicting release notes leave the operating status and documentation trail out of sync.