For many privacy advocates, AI represents an amplified form of surveillance, supercharging tracking mechanisms and sifting through vast amounts of personal data. This perspective positions AI as a natural evolution of **surveillance capitalism**, further enriching data-driven businesses. **Andy Yen**, founder and CEO of **Proton**, a leading provider of encrypted services, stands as a prominent voice equating AI with privacy invasion. He observes that the pervasive integration of AI into consumer tech products is driving a surge of new users to **Proton**'s end-to-end encrypted alternatives to services like **Gmail** and **Google Docs**. ### A Nuanced Stance on AI Despite these concerns, Yen states he is not fundamentally anti-AI, drawing a parallel to his stance on the internet itself. In late June, **Proton** released **Lumo**, its own AI chatbot, as part of a broader strategy to integrate AI into its suite of tools. This approach prioritizes user voluntariness and robust privacy protections, differing significantly from the typical Big Tech model. ### The Genesis of Proton: From CERN to Crypto Yen's journey to founding **Proton** began at **CERN**, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where he worked on the **Large Hadron Collider**. Inspired by **Edward Snowden**'s 2013 leaks revealing government mass surveillance, Yen and his colleagues identified an even greater threat: corporate surveillance. "If you imagine what the **NSA** knows about you and then compare that to, say, what **Meta** or **Google** might know, it’s really quite tiny," Yen explained. He argues that governments often bypass direct surveillance by subpoenaing data from these tech giants, highlighting the pervasive nature of corporate data collection. This realization fueled the creation of **Proton Mail** in 2014. The core mission was to build an internet where privacy is the default, rather than an opt-in feature buried in complex settings. "The default business model of the internet is that everything you do is recorded, shared, monetized, and abused for purposes that are beyond your control," Yen stated, emphasizing **Proton**'s role as a counter-narrative. ### Proton's Growth and the AI Backlash Since its inception, **Proton** has grown from hundreds of thousands of users to over 100 million. By offering encrypted email, calendar, file storage, and document services, **Proton** aims to provide a comprehensive, privacy-first alternative to the **Google Workspace** ecosystem. Yen attributes a significant portion of **Proton**'s recent growth to the "AI backlash." As users become increasingly wary of AI being pushed into their everyday services, particularly in platforms like **Gmail**, they are actively seeking privacy-focused alternatives. **Proton** has capitalized on this trend by introducing tools that simplify the migration of emails and data from services like **Google**. ### Embracing AI with a Privacy-First Approach Yen acknowledges that "AI is surveillance. The internet is surveillance." He believes that since AI is here to stay, the crucial question becomes: Who will steward and control this new technological future? He argues against ceding this ground entirely to large tech companies with questionable privacy records. "**Proton** is also building AI features and AI tools, because I think if the privacy companies do not find a way to step in to build privacy-first AI, we are essentially ceding the future to tech companies that don’t have the best interests of users at heart," Yen asserted. This proactive stance aims to prevent a repeat of past mistakes where a few dominant players monopolized the digital economy. While Yen admits to being "reluctantly pulled in" to the AI space, he sees it as a necessary step to fulfill **Proton**'s mission. He notes a shift in user sentiment; initially, there was backlash against **Proton**'s AI features. However, after the release of **Lumo**, user feedback evolved from criticism to demands for further improvements, indicating that the aversion is not to AI itself, but to its "Big Tech definition."