The Swiss company Proton, renowned for its suite of security-oriented services like Proton Mail and Proton VPN, has launched a new tool named Lumo. This new offering is a privacy-first AI assistant, engineered from the ground up to provide helpful assistance without compromising user data. The introduction of Lumo closely follows the company’s June 2024 transition to a non-profit structure, a move that reinforces its long-standing commitment to prioritizing user privacy over corporate profits.
At the core of Lumo’s design is a stringent commitment to data protection that sets it apart from many competitors.
Proton explicitly states that Lumo does not log user conversations on its servers, nor does it use user prompts for training its models. “Other AI companies keep a record of all your conversations on their servers, leaving this information vulnerable to data leaks or exploitation for profit,” Proton’s announcement notes. In contrast, Lumo is designed so that any chats a user chooses to save can only be decrypted on their own device, ensuring the information remains private.
Transparency is another cornerstone of the Lumo project. Instead of relying on proprietary, closed-source code that can hide risky functions, the AI assistant is based on open-source large language models (LLMs). Furthermore, Proton has applied its own proven open-source encryption scheme and has released the complete source code for Lumo itself. This allows the global security community to independently verify its claims and ensures there are no hidden mechanisms for tracking users or sharing their data.
From a user’s perspective, Lumo provides a familiar and intuitive experience with an interface that resembles other mainstream LLM services. However, its default settings are configured for maximum privacy, with the tool set to not search online and to delete all chats automatically when the session is closed. Lumo also supports the uploading of files, a feature that benefits from the same robust, end-to-end encryption that protects user conversations.
The launch of Lumo represents a significant step in offering a viable, secure alternative in the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelligence. By aligning the tool’s architecture with its core mission, Proton provides a solution for users who want to leverage the power of AI without surrendering their personal data. Lumo stands as a clear extension of Proton’s user-first philosophy, delivering a helpful assistant that is built on a foundation of transparency and trust.
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