Proton Is Launching A Privacy-focused Ai Chatbot

Proton, nan institution down nan encrypted email work Proton Mail, has launched an AI assistant aimed astatine preserving personification privacy. The caller chatbot, called Lumo, tin summarize documents, make code, constitute emails, and more, while storing information locally connected users’ devices.

Proton says it will protect this accusation utilizing “zero-access” encryption, which grants users an encryption cardinal that only they tin usage to position their content, preventing 3rd parties, including Proton, from accessing nan information. This helps guarantee that Proton can’t stock personification information pinch advertisers aliases governments, aliases usage it for training ample connection models, Proton says.

Though Lumo comes pinch nan expertise to hunt nan web, Proton turns this characteristic disconnected by default to “give users maximum privacy.” If users alteration nan feature, Lumo will hunt nan web for answers utilizing “privacy-friendly” hunt engines. Additionally, Proton says Lumo tin analyse uploaded files, but it doesn’t prevention immoderate of its information. Users tin nexus Proton Drive files to Lumo arsenic well, which are expected to enactment end-to-end encrypted erstwhile interacting pinch nan chatbot.

Proton positions its AI chatbot arsenic an replacement to nan ones offered by larger companies, for illustration OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta AI, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. “Big Tech is utilizing AI to supercharge nan postulation of delicate personification information to accelerate nan world’s modulation to surveillance capitalism,” Andy Yen, nan CEO and laminitis of Proton, says successful nan announcement. “Our imagination for Lumo is AI that puts group up of profits.”

Lumo is powered by respective open-source ample connection models that tally connected Proton’s servers successful Europe, including Mistral’s Nemo, Mistral Small 3, Nvidia’s OpenHands 32B, and nan Allen Institute for AI’s OLMO 2 32B model. The AI chatbot will section requests done different models depending connected which is better-suited for nan query. “For instance, programming-related questions are handled by OpenHands, which specializes successful coding tasks,” Proton spokesperson Betsy Jones tells The Verge.

You tin entree Lumo now by heading to lumo.proton.me, aliases downloading nan Lumo app for iOS and Android. Users who don’t person an relationship pinch Lumo aliases Proton tin only inquire nan chatbot a “limited number” of questions each week, and they won’t beryllium capable to entree their chat histories. Meanwhile, users pinch a free relationship tin position an encrypted chat history, upload mini files, and favourite a constricted number of chats. There’s besides a $12.99-per-month Lumo Plus scheme for entree to unlimited chats, extended encrypted chat history, unlimited favorites, and nan expertise to upload ample files.