Proton’s AI Pivot Leaves Privacy Fans Ready to Hit ‘Cancel’

Proton users are cancelling subscriptions and demanding new leadership after Chief Executive Officer Andy Yen urged engineers to expand their use of artificial intelligence and rejected requests for additional code testing as “loser thinking.” The Swiss privacy company subsequently cancelled planned employee assessments of AI use, intensifying concerns about its commitment to security and user privacy.

According to 404 Media, an employee asked Proton in August for several days to penetration-test new code before release, with specialists attempting to break into the software. Yen responded: “That’s bullshit and loser thinking. Of course it’s possible to be fast and secure.” He also pushed staff to stop writing code by hand and use more AI, while plans to reinterview employees to determine how they are using AI in their work. The outlet’s investigation was based on nine current and former employees, internal messages and meeting recordings.

The reaction has included subscription cancellation notices, renewed commitments and calls for Yen to step down on platforms such as Reddit. A proposal on Proton’s feedback forum urging him to resign had 2,020 votes when reviewed, alongside comments from users saying they had cancelled subscriptions or would not renew. Employee posts have also described anger and allegations of a toxic workplace culture, although these accounts do not establish a verified number of departing customers, and cancelling a paid plan does not necessarily mean deleting an account.

Proton’s AI ambitions predate the dispute. Its Lumo chatbot is designed not to use conversations to train AI, while the company’s broader engineering strategy has centred on directing large language models rather than treating them as occasional assistants. On November 1, technology chief Bart Butler published an engineering manifesto comparing manual coding to memorising phone numbers and envisioning an eventual end to most human code review. The manifesto nevertheless maintained that expertise and testing remained essential and that engineers would remain accountable for work models could not reliably handle: “Your job has fundamentally changed. It is no longer to write code, and LLMs are not here to help you write better code faster,” it read. “Your job is to help the LLM write better code faster.”

Buttler later told the team that avoiding AI represented an “existential threat” to Proton’s mission. “‘Programming’ is dead. Engineering is not,” Buttler told his own team. “Your old job is gone.”