OpenAI's Computer History makes Mac activity logging an IT decision, not a personal preference

OpenAI began rolling out a feature called Computer History to the ChatGPT Mac app on Thursday, an opt-in capability that records what a user does across permitted apps and websites and turns it into memories and a timeline usable in ChatGPT and Codex ^[1][3]. It is available on Pro, Business and Enterprise accounts ^[2], which moves the question of whether a work Mac keeps a running log of its own operator from personal taste to administrative policy.

The mechanics matter more than the pitch. In its own description, quoted by ZDNET, OpenAI says Computer History "creates an interaction-event stream from allowed apps and websites," and that events "can include clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, app switches, and context that MacOS exposes through its accessibility system" ^[8]. Those events are periodically converted into text summaries and local memory files ^[9]. It does not capture the screen, microphone input or system audio ^[7], which is the main break from Chronicle, the screenshot-based feature it builds on and replaces ^[5]. OpenAI says the new version uses fewer tokens and offers more privacy controls than Chronicle did ^[6].

No screenshots, then, but keystrokes and accessibility-tree context, summarised to disk ^[8][9]. For any machine that touches customer records, unreleased financials or a credentials field in a web app, "it does not screenshot" is a narrower assurance than it first sounds.

The governance shape is the part to read closely. On a Business or Enterprise account managed by a company, a designated administrator has to grant access before the feature can be used; on a Pro account, the user enables it directly ^[14]. Pro is therefore the one tier where this reaches a desktop without passing through an administrator ^[16], and personal Pro subscriptions on company laptops are a common arrangement. Turning it on also requires the Memories option, so activity carries across chats and tasks rather than staying inside one thread ^[13][3].

Users do get controls. The timeline is organised by day and time, and each captured item shows a title and summary, the apps or websites involved, a suggested skill for repeatable work, and options to reveal the memory file in Finder or delete the item ^[10]. Setup runs through Settings, then Integrations, then Computer History, including app and website selection and MacOS permission prompts ^[12]. The allowlist of apps is the meaningful control; per-item deletion is cleanup after the fact.

Geography buys some desks a little time. The rollout is global in most regions now, with the UK, Switzerland and the European Economic Area following in the next few weeks ^[4]. That interval is when a policy can be written before the toggle appears in front of staff.

Three things to watch. Whether administrators get anything beyond a binary grant of access, since access-granting is all the published description covers ^[14]. Whether those local memory files sit in ordinary user directories reachable by backup and sync tooling, which the Finder shortcut implies they do ^[17]. And whether endpoint monitoring and DLP tooling treat a summarised event stream the way they treat a screen recorder, because the two leave very different traces.

ZDNET notes that its parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025 alleging infringement of Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems ^[15].