VMblog last interviewed Edgeless Systems Co-Founder and CEO Felix Schuster back in February 2022. While a lot has happened with Edgeless Systems in the past two years, today at the Open Confidential Computing Conference they are announcing the launch of Continuum, the first pioneering security solution that enables cloud-based "Confidential AI" services. To learn more, VMblog spoke to Felix Schuster, Co-Founder and CEO of Edgeless Systems.

VMblog:  Before we begin with questions about the Continuum security solution that enables cloud-based "Confidential AI", can you give our readers some context by answering the question, "What is Confidential Computing?"

Felix Schuster:  Confidential computing enables end-to-end encrypted and verifiable data processing. End-to-end encrypted here means that the data remains encrypted even at runtime in memory. This is a breakthrough concept. It allows one to run sensitive workloads in the cloud, while having the assurance that not even the cloud provider can access the data. Confidential computing features are available in recent server chips from Intel and AMD. These chips and their features are widely available in the major clouds. However, so far, it has been difficult to use these features correctly and at scale.

VMblog: Given that context, tell us about your new product Continuum and specifically how it enables cloud-based "Confidential AI" services?

Schuster:  At its core, Continuum ensures that user requests (or "prompts") and the corresponding replies remain encrypted throughout within an AI service, making plaintext data inaccessible to both the AI service provider and the underlying cloud infrastructure. Furthermore, it protects the often highly valuable weights of AI models in the same manner. To achieve this, Continuum leverages the confidential computing capabilities of Nvidia H100 GPUs in concert with cutting-edge cryptography and innovative sandboxing technology, allowing AI service providers to freely update models and code without compromising security.

VMblog: What is the problem that Continuum solves?

Schuster:  Since the release of ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence (AI) has been transformative across industries and has found its way into a plentitude of productivity-boosting products. However, enterprises, public sector entities, and consumers alike are reluctant to use AI services with sensitive data due to concerns about data leaks and the potential for AI models to be further trained on their input data. Continuum solves that problem via its cloud-based "Confidential AI" services.

VMblog: How do you see Continuum influencing the generative AI market?

Schuster:  Continuum will significantly influence the generative AI market as it allows a wider range of enterprises, particularly those in regulated sectors, to confidently utilize offerings like chatbots. Continuum embodies the mission of Edgeless Systems to enable the use of cloud services without compromising on data security or compliance.

VMblog:  You are announcing Continuum at the annual Open Confidential Computing Conference, which takes place today (March 13, 2024). Tell us about this virtual conference and where people can go for more information and to register.

Schuster:  The Open Confidential Computing Conference (OC3) is the premier event for security architects, cloud-native software engineers, IT security experts, CISOs, CTOs, security researchers, and developers who want to learn about confidential computing. Whether brand new to confidential computing or an advanced user, there is something for everyone at OC3. See the conference schedule here. Hosted by Edgeless Systems, OC3 sponsors and speakers represent a "who's who" in confidential computing including Google, Intel, Microsoft, ARM and others. For details, visit https://www.oc3.dev/.