Proton Users Revolt After CEO Calls Security Caution 'Loser Thinking' Amid AI Push

In brief

• Proton users are reporting subscription cancellations and calling for CEO Andy Yen to resign.
• Yen reportedly called a request for additional security testing “loser thinking” while pushing faster AI adoption.
• The company canceled planned AI re-interviews, then published a manifesto defending its engineering overhaul.

Proton users are reporting subscription cancellations after revelations that CEO Andy Yen pressured engineers to embrace AI and dismissed a request for more security testing as “loser thinking.”

The Swiss privacy company has since canceled planned employee assessments of AI use.

The backlash cuts into Proton’s main selling point—trusting it with information people want kept private. Its encrypted email service scrambles messages to protect their contents, and customers questioning its development practices are asking whether faster releases could come at their expense.

A Proton employee asked the company in August for a few days to pentest new code, meaning specialists would try to break into it before release, per 404 Media. Yen replied: “That’s bullshit and loser thinking. Of course it’s possible to be fast and secure.”

He also urged staff to stop writing code by hand and use more AI, and mentioned that he’d be reinterviewing its staff to see if and how they are using AI to do their job, the outlet reported. Its investigation drew on nine current and former employees, internal messages, and meeting recordings.