ChatGPT Computer History Stores Your Workflow in Plain Text — Here’s the Risk

OpenAI launched Computer History on August 13, an opt-in Mac feature that records clicks, keystrokes, and app switches into persistent ChatGPT memories stored as unencrypted plain-text Markdown files on disk. OpenAI acknowledges the files are readable by any process under the user account, posing a concrete security risk given the rise of Mac infostealers in 2026. Users should weigh this risk before enabling the feature.

OpenAI launched Computer History on August 13 — an opt-in Mac feature that watches your clicks, keystrokes, and app switches, then distills them into persistent ChatGPT memories. Those memory files live on disk as plain-text Markdown, unencrypted, readable by any process running under your user account. OpenAI acknowledges this in its own documentation. With Mac infostealers increasingly active in 2026, that is a concrete risk worth understanding before you enable it. What Computer History Actually Does Computer History uses macOS accessibility APIs to record interaction events — clicks, typing, keyboard shortcuts, and app switches. It does not capture screenshots, screen … The post