Companies from Microsoft to Dell to HP, Lenovo, and more are releasing AI-powered and AI-ready personal computers. That’s helping to pioneer the everyday use of AI by consumers. But it also raises security issues as the world continues to greet artificial intelligence with both excitement and concern.

Today Trend Micro, the Japanese global cybersecurity company with U.S. headquarters in Irving, announced it’s addressing those issues with “its first consumer security solutions tailored to safeguard against emerging threats in the era of AI PCs.”

Expanding ecosystem to include Intel

Trend Micro “expanded its ecosystem” this week to include Intel, a major provider of neural processing units (NPUs) for AI PCs. NPUs are processors designed specifically for executing machine learning algorithms.

Carla Rodriguez, VP and GM of Client Software Ecosystem Enabling at Intel, said her company is collaborating with Trend Micro on AI solutions leveraging her company’s next-generation Intel Core Ultra processors (code name Lunar Lake).

“Specifically, Trend will be the first to utilize Lunar Lake’s 48 NPU Tops on their email defense feature to run scans locally, increasing user privacy and security while lowering latency,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “Intel enables a broad and open ecosystem and brings unmatched scale and channels for AI ISVs like Trend Micro. We look forward to driving their solutions to those seeking to adopt AI capable PCs rooted in security.”

AI PCs let you run AI apps right on your device

When consumers use PCs powered by neural processing units, they can run AI apps right on their device instead of in the cloud. That delivers benefits from privacy to performance, Trend Micro notes. But with PC manufacturers racing to bring new AI PCs to market, consumers face risks along with opportunities.

“We’re not only leveraging AI for security, but also securing AI itself,” Trend Micro COO Kevin Simzer said in a statement. “The value of this AI era will ultimately depend on how secure it is, from the enterprise level to the individual consumer. Trend is addressing both, while many in the industry are not yet doing either.”

Simzer’s company is addressing these risks through new capabilities it’s showcasing this week at Computex 2024 in Taipei, Taiwan. Per Trend Micro, they include AI application protection and NPU-powered email security, with the following benefits:

• AI application protection: “Traditional cybersecurity solutions for PCs are not enough when it comes to protecting consumer AI applications from malicious activity. Methods such as model tampering or knowledge base poisoning can result in an AI application being directed to put users at risk of losing sensitive personal information or becoming a victim of misinformation. Trend’s AI application protection capability is designed to address this risk and is set to launch for device security products in 2024.”
• NPU-powered email security: “Previously, email content had to be sent to the cloud for analysis due to computing power requirements. Trend can now run email scam protection locally on an AI PC. This offers a better user experience and removes data privacy friction from the process. Trend expects to see a 100% increase in usage of this feature on AI PCs, which will be available as part of its device security solutions in 2024.”

Trend Micro said it will be bringing these advanced capabilities to consumers “in late 2024.”

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