Security moves below the operating system as AI PCs take on the data protection job
Chipmakers and device makers are rebuilding enterprise data loss prevention around on-device AI security, as employees paste sensitive material into chatbots and assistants faster than rules-based tools can inspect it. Nearly 40% of all data moving into AI tools now involves sensitive material, according to a 2026 Cyberhaven report. The shift pushes classification off the cloud and down into silicon, where models can run cheaply and data never leaves the endpoint.
That change depends on a stack that reaches beneath the operating system, from the neural processing unit through firmware and the boot sequence. Chipmakers and device manufacturers are now feeding hardware telemetry into the same console security analysts already use, according to Todd Cramer (pictured, left), senior director of business development and security ecosystem at Intel Corp.
“This year, we have Falcon data security from CrowdStrike announcing their first AI model that runs on an Intel NPU on a Dell device,” Cramer said. “It’s the right time in the use case, because we’ve got all these AI assistants, chatbots. What’s the first thing CISOs are worried about? Data.”
