Proton goes all in on using AI

gnabgib

Discussion (84 points, 36 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50289692

TutleCpt

Do we really need humans writing code anymore though? Another year of development and AI is just going to be superior to a human writing code. It's already about 90% there.

anonymous908213

FFS. ProtonVPN is borderline irreplaceable as one of the three or so VPNs that you don't have to trust because they've been tested in court not to have VPN logs. Losing one of them hurts.

josefritzishere

Based on that 404 Media article I'm done with proton. They've lost their way. https://www.404media.co/manifestos-fear-and-loser-thinking-i...

28304283409234

Damn I thought these were the good guys.

pron

Never mind the policy, why do tech CEOs have to sound like frat boys?

dragondev22

You have got to be kidding me. One of the few companies I liked (past tense).

skinfaxi

Is it me or has Proton been getting more media coverage than usual very recently?

slopinthebag

who cares? i'm not so sure the current quality of software can get much lower and responsible use of ai could have big upside.

ls612

After everything in the past six months do we really think that humans are better than coding agents at writing secure code?! This announcement honestly makes me more confident not less in their products.

r00t-

And? What's the issue?

SamDc73

I wish they can offer LLMs though an API with some good privacy (not a UI) since i can't come across any

willio58

There’s going all in on AI adoption, then there’s what proton has done. This is disgusting, full stop. Destroying any sense of trust in your company by allowing people to rat on others is going to bite them in the ass. And all for AI, which ultimately is a tool that the largest portion of people already have adopted and those that haven’t often understand it’s the way forward anyway. Like instead of letting your people do this organically, maintaining trust in their org, you poison it instead. And for what? A few extra dollars in the bank? The greed is gross. Not to mention the loss of customers/potential customers. I always thought proton was one of the good companies. That’s out the window with this news.

mshish

Article seems somewhat one sided to me. The style of the CEO doesn't sound good, but there's no discussion of specific tooling, harnesses, and other automation they have in place. Reading the letter posted, it sounds like they've got more in place than the article implies but people have been resisting adopting.

defgeneric

Fully expecting this will get me a torrent of downvotes here, but... I'm not sure he's wrong. I'm speculating here but I can imagine the kind of developers Proton attracts--likely people who care a lot about the code and who care about the craft. That's fine, but when you're running a company in this environment, and that's what things look like internally, you do have to be a little brutal to shake people out of old ways. A manifesto titled "Your old job is gone" may actually be warranted. It sounds a lot like there are people internally who are still fighting the shift, and they've taken to leaking things that hurt the company's security image. Part of the CEO's job, if he's going to push hard in the direction he's decided on, is to fire those people who will undermine it before they do. That this has all now backfired is entirely on him. Maybe he thought he was "motivating" people by calling them losers, or shaking them out of an outmoded way of thinking about what we do, but none of that matters when you have employees attacking your main selling point and the core image of the company in public. He's not wrong that he needs to move fast, or that processes need to change, or that the job has changed, but his execution isn't so great. He'll probably survive just fine though.

ChrisArchitect

[dupe] Discussion on source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50289692

senorrib

Time to find a new home for my email address.

nmeagent

Great. I have a lifetime account that I purchased a decade ago and now I'm going to have to find something else. Thanks guys, thanks for ruining everything.