Manifestos, Fear, and 'Loser Thinking': Inside Proton's AI Reckoning

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.

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

phoronixrly

> His ultimate message for the team was to “stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more.” What more is there to say?

ikesau

This looks really bad. I would hate to work at a place with leadership and morale like that. I guess I don't understand Proton's financial position. Are they not owned by the non-profit Proton Foundation? Why can they not just have slow and steady growth with an emphasis on security and quality?

didacusc

I've just renewed my two year sub. Auto-renewal to be switched off imminently. This is terrible.

lifestyleguru

Having aimed at emigration to Switzerland once I only made myself sure I don't want to live there. Attracts too many too ambitious types. Anyway, using Swiss services does not mean that you are renting a safe deposit in their bunker.

hurfdurf

Proton to 'Re-Interview' Staff About AI to See Who Gets to Keep Their Job ( https://www.404media.co/proton-to-re-interview-staff-about-a... ) 85 points | 3 days ago | 42 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50251062

bcvvvy

Not sure why the hell you'd trust Proton in the first place? What they sell is some loose guarantees slapped on a completely insecure protocol with many footguns lying around. Now we know it's run by a dick too. They sold fear. That was all.

fzeroracer

Very funny to compare this with the posts just a few days ago [1] where they announced they were reinterviewing folks to lay then off if they weren't sufficiently on the AI train. Almost like where there's smoke, there's fire. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50251062

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.

athst

As a Proton customer, this is disappointing to hear that it's like this, because I definitely got the sense that it's a company that would operate differently. It actually sounds (unfortunately) like the culture of a lot of the places I've worked... On the other hand, I do see the situation their leadership is in, even though they're not handling it in a respectful way. If the company needs to provide competitive services vs. everyone else who is using AI, they're just going to get left behind. And even for security: like if their engineers are skeptical about adopting AI how can they protect their system in a world with Mythos and all other kinds of AI running around attacking them? I imagine their product would attract employees who are more skeptical about AI, which is hard to change . They need to find a balance between keeping with the spirit and principles of their product but not be in denial about the new world we live in.

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

ada-h00k

This really undermines trust in Proton, not just from a data privacy perspective, but also simply in terms of security and reliability. If they don't issue a statement proving that this is all just made up, or announcing that they're firing the CEO and restructuring the company, I'll switch to another provider in the long run.

taurath

This is happening in so many companies - executives and cult-like technical leadership are still touting lines of code as being indicative of productivity while their engineering teams lose coherence around their products.

lbrito

"[not having AI psychosis is] bullshit and loser thinking." Seems like dhh has a new pupil

marginalia_nu

Can't imagine the company surviving if Andy is allowed to stay on as CEO. A company like Proton lives and dies by its reputation, trust, and goodwill. Given their mission and brand, this is spectacularly tone deaf and jeopardizes everything they've spent over a decade building up. Only thing that might save their face is kicking Andy and following up with Japanese levels of corporate apologizing.

stego-tech

Dude, all I want is a private and secure email provider. That’s it. That’s what I pay for. Everything else - and I mean everything else - is ancillary to that core function. Seeing a CEO openly throw security out the window in favor of Big Tech’s latest drug addiction is bad enough, but the CEO of a company whose entire reputation is bucking Big Tech? Inexcusable. Already looking for exit strategies. I don’t want to give this prick one red cent of my money.

a34729t

Well, that makes me feel better about not migrating to proton recently. Dream was nice while the mask stayed on.

tabiv

I just want to pay someone and then get a reliable email service in reuturn. Why do we need all of this velocity, productivity BS.

han2

archived, full story: https://nonograph.com/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-ins...