We Asked Six AIs How to Protect Your Devices. They Got the Free Stuff Right and the Shopping List Wrong.
We tried something simple. We took six of the most-used AI assistants and asked each the same plain question: it's 2026, I'm not very technical, and I want to protect my phone, laptop, and tablet. What should I do, and what's worth paying for?
We asked through Perplexity, which can put the same question to different AI models with live web search on. The six were OpenAI's GPT‑5.4, Google's Gemini 3.1, Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.6, Perplexity's own Sonar, Kimi K2.6, and Nemotron 3 Ultra.
They agreed on a short list of free steps, and on that list they're right. The useful test came later, when we asked what to buy. That is where the answers cracked.
First, what this actually is
None of these AIs tested anything. They don't run a lab or install the apps. They read what people have already published and cite it as they answer: government cyber‑security guidance, reviews from Wirecutter and PCMag, and the device makers' own help pages. So treat the answers as a well‑read summary of public advice. It is not independent testing. Useful, as long as you know which parts to lean on.
The free basics: here they're genuinely good
Four steps came up in all six answers, and not one costs money. This is the AIs at their best.
- Turn on automatic updates everywhere. Phone, tablet, laptop, browser, apps. Every model put it near the top, because most attacks use old holes an update would have closed.
- Lock every device with a PIN, or a fingerprint or face unlock. On a modern device this also turns on encryption.
- Use a password manager and two‑factor. Claude Sonnet called a password manager "not optional anymore," because stolen and reused passwords are how most accounts get broken into. Turn on two‑factor for email and banking first. As Claude put it, your email is "the master key to all your accounts."
- Skip the paid antivirus. All six said the built‑in protection is enough for an ordinary person. Claude called Microsoft Defender "full antivirus, built‑in, free, and genuinely good." On a Mac that's XProtect; on Android, Google Play Protect.
They were just as clear on what to skip: Nemotron called "cleaner" and "booster" apps "snake oil." Do only those four things and you've covered most of what actually threatens you.
In their own words
Same question, six models. Here is the characteristic line from each, exactly as it answered:
"For most non-technical users, built-in protection is enough on modern devices if you keep it updated."
— GPT‑5.4
"For most people in 2026, the biggest wins are boring: turn on built-in protections, use a password manager, keep devices updated, and make backups."
— Sonar
"For most people in 2026, the built-in protections on modern devices — combined with a few free habits — are genuinely sufficient. You likely don't need to buy anything."
— Nemotron 3 Ultra
"The built-in, free tools—updates, device locks, Find My, password managers, and MFA—stop the vast majority of threats most non-technical users face. Everything else is supplementary."
— Kimi K2.6
"updates + strong passwords + 2FA covers 80–90% of the threats that actually hit everyday users. Everything else is an upgrade, not a requirement."
— Claude Sonnet 4.6
"Ad blockers like uBlock Origin do more than remove annoyances; they actively hide malicious tech-support pop-ups, fake download buttons, and phishing links, significantly reducing your cognitive load and scam risk."
— Gemini 3.1
On the free basics, that agreement holds. Then we asked what to buy.
Where the answers cracked: the shopping list
Ask an AI to name a product and you are no longer getting settled, free advice. You're getting whatever the web was saying when it last looked. Three things went wrong.
1. The ad‑blocker pick was last year's answer. Every model that named a blocker named uBlock Origin, the long‑time favorite, and Gemini called it "essential." But the full uBlock Origin no longer runs in Google Chrome. Google's switch to a new extension system (called Manifest V3) disabled it back in 2025, and this month Chrome strips out the last workaround. The full version lives on in Firefox and Brave; Chrome now offers only a stripped‑down "uBlock Origin Lite" with fewer abilities. The advice was fine a year ago. The AIs just handed it over as if nothing had changed.
2. The "free VPN" pick skipped the catch. Several named Proton VPN's free tier, and it's a fair pick: no data limit, no ads. But the free tier connects one device at a time, at what Proton itself calls "medium" speed, to servers in just five countries that it chooses for you. Good to know before you lean on it. The catch is the part a quick answer leaves out.
3. Some picks traced back to nothing. When we pushed for specific paid products, a model would name one. Follow the trail behind the name, though, and it ended at another search result. No test, no trusted review behind it, just a product that had floated to the top of the web that week and got passed on as a recommendation. Nemotron was sharper elsewhere, warning that free VPNs from companies you can't name tend to "monetize your traffic." That instinct was missing from the buy‑list answers.
None of this means the tools are bad. uBlock Origin is still excellent in the right browser, and Proton's free tier is a real option. It means an AI's product pick just mirrors search that week. Check it before you trust it.
The part every answer skipped: your actual devices
Each AI gave a tidy per‑platform answer. Gemini even ended by asking which one ecosystem we used. But most people aren't one ecosystem. A Windows laptop, an Android tablet, and an iPhone share a house all the time, and no single answer joined them up.
The free setup across all three at once:
- One password manager for everything. The built‑in managers don't cross over well: Apple's stays on Apple, Google's leans Android, Microsoft's leans Windows. Bitwarden, the free option several models named, works on all three, so you learn one app instead of three.
- Updates, three switches. Windows Update on the laptop, System Update on the tablet, Software Update on the iPhone. Turn each one to automatic, once.
- Backup, three built‑ins. OneDrive on Windows, Google One on Android, iCloud on the iPhone. Or point all three at one drive you own.
- "Find My," three maps. Find My Device covers the Windows laptop and the Android tablet; Find My covers the iPhone. Sign in to each now, so a lost device is findable later.
One password app, one set of habits, and a note of where each device keeps its own tools. That's the whole job, and it's the synthesis the AIs left to you.
The lesson worth keeping
The free basics are the real answer, and six AIs reading the same public advice all landed on them. Use that.
But the moment any source, an AI or a person, tells you to buy something, ask one question: is this a real endorsement, or just an echo of whatever's winning search this week? The free steps were settled enough that all six agreed. The shopping picks were soft enough that one stale fact, one skipped catch, or one stray search result was all it took to mislead.
And remember what these answers are: six well‑read summaries of advice that's already out there. No one tested it. Use them as a map. Then, where it counts, and especially before you pay, check the original source yourself.
