Proton's CEO Calls Security Concerns 'Loser Thinking' as AI Takes Over
Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning
Internal Slack messages and documents reveal that Proton CEO Andy Yen is pushing AI adoption at the privacy company with unusual aggression. He called engineers who wanted to pentest new code before shipping it 'losers,' set up an email address to 'ruthlessly smash' anything blocking AI, and said this is the last year Proton will hire engineers. The CTO's manifesto told staff 'your old job is gone,' and 90% of code is now AI-written, largely with Claude. Staff describe a culture of fear.
Perception is more important than truth, the truth doesn't matter if you don't win on perception.
- Refreeze5224
I no longer trust Proton after reading this. Chen seems like he has lost what the entire point of Protonmail was supposed to be, and now wants to become one of the Big Tech companies they were built to be an alternative to. He also seems like a two-faced bully.
Email (and VPN, password manager, etc.) is far too sensitive to go as all-in as they want to do on AI. I've been using Tuta in parallel with Proton, and I will probably migrate over completely soon
- pier25
> “Due to insufficient velocity,” Proton is not on track to achieve its annual recurring revenue target by the end of the year
I'm a Proton customer and other than some UX improvements I'm not missing any big features. This idea they need more velocity is a failure in management.
- hebleb
If my CEO called me a loser for trying to enforce some level of quality, I would start looking for a new job immediately
- lioeters
The CEO posted in a company chat that pentesting newly written code before pushing it live is "bullshit and loser thinking".
Sounds so juvenile, worse than a teenager. Unfit for running a company dealing with secure mail.
- howdyhowdy
Look. I just want an email provider that pays enough dues to the smtp mafia so my personal correspondence doesn't hit spam or bounce. Why. Why can't just email be straightforward and transactional.