Key Takeaways
1. Privacy-Centric AI: Proton’s AI chatbot, Lumo, prioritizes user privacy, opposing “surveillance capitalism” prevalent in Big Tech.
2. Strong Security Features: Lumo employs “zero-access” encryption, ensuring that user data is inaccessible to third parties, including Proton itself.
3. File Handling and Encryption: Lumo analyzes uploaded documents without retaining any information, and linked files from Proton Drive maintain end-to-end encryption.
4. Web Search Options: Lumo has a web search feature that is off by default, using privacy-friendly search engines if enabled.
5. Tiered Access and Features: Users can interact with Lumo through various account tiers, with free accounts having limited access and paid subscriptions offering enhanced features.
Proton, known for its secure email service Proton Mail, has introduced a new AI chatbot focused on privacy, called Lumo.
Vision for Privacy
According to Andy Yen, the CEO and founder of Proton, their aim is to create “AI that puts people ahead of profits.” This is a direct challenge to what he refers to as “surveillance capitalism” that dominates Big Tech.
Security Features
Lumo is designed with numerous security features to protect user data. This AI assistant can perform various tasks like summarizing documents, coding, and writing emails, with all information saved locally on the user’s device.
Proton utilizes “zero-access” encryption, which provides a unique encryption key for you to access your content.
This structure ensures that no third party, including Proton itself, can view your information. Thus, your data remains off-limits for advertisers, government agencies, or for training large language models.
File Handling and Encryption
You can upload documents for Lumo to analyze; however, the chatbot does not keep any information from those files. Moreover, when you link files from Proton Drive to Lumo, they retain their end-to-end encryption while interacting with the chatbot.
Lumo works with a variety of open-source large language models hosted on Proton’s servers in Europe, such as Mistral’s Nemo, Mistral Small 3, Nvidia’s OpenHands 32B, and the Allen Institute for AI’s OLMO 2 32B model.
The system assigns tasks to the model that is best suited for the specific inquiry. A representative from Proton commented, “programming-related questions are managed by OpenHands, which focuses on coding tasks.”
Web Search and Accessibility
Lumo incorporates a web search function, but it is turned off by default to prioritize user privacy. If you choose to enable this feature, Lumo uses “privacy-friendly” search engines to gather information from the web.
You can access Lumo through its website, lumo.proton.me, and through specialized applications for both iOS and Android. Access is organized into various tiers.
People without a Lumo or Proton account can ask a “limited number” of questions each week, and they won’t have access to their chat histories.
Users with a free account can utilize an encrypted chat history, upload small files, and save a limited number of chats as favorites.
For a monthly subscription of $12.99, the Lumo Plus plan offers unlimited chats, extended encrypted chat history, boundless favorites, and the ability to upload larger files.
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