Proton's Lumo chatbot bets encrypted AI can beat surveillance
What's the deal? ProtonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the encryption-focused tech company, has released the latest version of its own AI chatbot, Lumo. Founder and chief executive officer Andy Yen says the launch is part of a push to embed AI more deeply across Proton's suite of tools while preserving user privacy.
Why now? Yen argues the industry-wide rush to bolt AI onto every consumer product — wanted or not — is pushing new users toward Proton. Its products are end-to-end encrypted versions of GoogleDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → services, from GmailDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to Docs, Sheets, Calendar, and Meet.
What's the endgame? Lumo, released in late June, is Proton's attempt to embrace what many see as a contradiction between AI and privacy. Yen says he is not anti-AI, any more than he is anti-internet — the aim is to make AI voluntary and more private than the typical tech giant offers.
The backstory: Proton traces to the summer after Edward Snowden's 2013 leaks, when Yen and fellow physicists at CERNDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s Large Hadron Collider had spare time during an upgrade cycle. Their conclusion: government surveillance was a problem, but corporate surveillance was bigger.
Yen frames the stakes bluntly. "If you look at the US government, they don't even need the NSA," he says. "They can just directly subpoena Google, FacebookDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and these giant companies, which they do on a very routine basis."
The signal: Many privacy advocates equate AI with surveillance, arguing it supercharges tracking and feeds on vast troves of user data. Proton is testing whether encrypted, privacy-first AI can carve a market against the incumbents that built the surveillance model in the first place.
Read more: WIRED
Image credit: Proton
