Proton’s new encrypted AI chatbot, Lumo, puts your privacy first

Proton, the privacy-focused company behind the encrypted email service Proton Mail, has launched its own AI chatbot called Lumo (spotted by The Verge). Unlike most other AI chatbots, Lumo is privacy-first.

Lumo can do a lot of the things that other AI chatbots can do, like summarize documents, write emails, and generate code. But all user data is stored locally and protected with so-called “zero-access” encryption. This means that only you have the key to your own content.

Web search is disabled by default to protect user privacy, but can be manually switched on to use privacy-friendly search engines. Lumo can also analyze files without saving any information. No logs are ever stored, conversations are never recorded, data is never shared with third parties, and your interactions aren’t used to train AI.

Lumo’s AI model is based on open-source models running on servers within Europe, including models from Mistral, Nvidia, and the Allen Institute for AI. The model used is chosen based on what’s considered most appropriate for the task at hand.

Lumo is available as both a web service and an app. There’s a free version with limited functionality, plus a paid version (which costs $12.99 a month) that provides unlimited use and more storage space.