Proton CEO Andy Yen cancelled the "nearly company-wide" AI re-interviews his company had planned for staff, telling an all-hands meeting on Friday, October 30, "We've decided to actually cancel the re-interviews," 404 Media reported, citing six current employees and audio of the roughly two-hour meeting. The reversal came four days after an internal email told employees the sessions were "consequential" and could decide their "continued employment."
Later that day, at 22:54 UTC, Proton, the Swiss maker of Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Drive and Proton Pass, put its own position on the record. In a post on its main X account it denied installing tracking software on employees' laptops, said AI would "never be at the expense of security," promised to publish its internal AI policies and open-source several internal tools, and said there are "no job losses due to AI re-interviews."
Post on X by @ProtonPrivacy
Hey everyone, we have heard your concerns about Proton’s AI strategy and culture and after internal discussions, we want to share a few things with you. First, Proton does not install tracking software on employees' laptops to measure how much AI-generated code they produce. This rumor stemmed from a misunderstanding about how MDM software works, and it's not true. Second, our use of AI will never be at the expense of security. In the past year, contrary to what has been alleged, additional layers of security review have been added to meet the threat posed by hostile AIs scanning Proton's open-source code for vulnerabilities. Our code is open source, and its security remains open for all to verify. We want to prove this to you, so in the interest of transparency, we will lift the hood on how we use AI internally at Proton. This includes publicly releasing and open sourcing several of the internal tools that we use, including more advanced versions of Lumo with greater capabilities, which have never been made available outside of the company. We will also publish how code reviews and security reviews at Proton are done, and detail our AI policies, including where AI is permitted, and where it is not, and our rationale. Instead of just being able to see the final open-source code that we produce to verify security, you will also be able to assess how that code was produced. Lastly, we are not re-interviewing our staff about AI usage, and there are no job losses due to AI re-interviews. You can hold us to these commitments. We're aware that we haven't lived up to the high standard you ought to hold us to, and for that we can only apologize, we are sorry.
What the re-interviews were
404 Media first reported the plan on October 26, from an internal email sent that Monday. According to Tom's Guide, which quoted the email, the interviews were to run from November 4 to 11, each employee was to be questioned by a leader from outside their own team, and staff were told to bring concrete examples of how they use AI. Not everyone was to be invited.
Proton answered that first report in a comment on Reddit from its Proton_Team account, Tom's Guide reported, saying it is "not doing layoffs and using AI as an excuse" and that it faces a talent shortage and is hiring.
On October 29, 404 Media published an investigation based on eight current and one former employee, Slack chats, meeting recordings and an AI manifesto by the company's chief technology officer, Bart Butler. It reported that Yen had said this would be the last year Proton hires engineers at all, and that it would instead hire only people to build things with AI. It also reported that an internal document said Proton was not on track to reach its annual recurring revenue target "due to insufficient velocity." The Next Web reported, citing audio obtained by 404 Media, that Butler told a meeting AI wrote 90% of Proton's code in October. A Proton spokesperson did not dispute the reporting, 404 Media said, and told it: "In our determination to move fast, we have sometimes been too blunt or too slow in explaining ourselves to our people."
A week in dates
Date | What happened |
|---|---|
Oct. 26 | Staff email announces AI re-interviews; 404 Media reports it |
Oct. 27 | Yen writes on X that AI "is part of that review at most places" |
Oct. 29 | 404 Media investigation, from nine current and former staff |
Oct. 30 | Yen cancels the re-interviews at an all-hands |
Oct. 30 | Proton's statement on X, 22:54 UTC |
Nov. 4 | First day the interviews were scheduled |
Sources: 404 Media, October 26, 29 and 30; Tom's Guide, October 27; Proton and Andy Yen on X. Intervals calculated by SaasBuzz.
By SaasBuzz's count, the plan lasted four days from the email to the cancellation, which came one day after the investigation and five days before the first interview was due.
What Proton said, and what it left out
At the all-hands, Yen apologized for "a communication failure on my part," according to 404 Media. He said a reorganization would follow next month, including "redistributing talent across teams," "but there will be no loss of jobs from AI." Butler told staff that "using AI effectively and pragmatically does not mean that we've given up on security, or good architecture, or sound software engineering principles." One employee told 404 Media that what the interviews would have measured would instead "become a component of the performance reviews."
Proton's public statement answers three charges directly: tracking software, which it blamed on "a misunderstanding about how MDM software works," security shortcuts, and the interviews themselves. It does not address the 90% figure, the revenue document or the remark about hiring engineers. Its jobs promise is also narrower than the one Yen gave staff: "no job losses due to AI re-interviews," for interviews that will no longer take place.
What it means for software teams and Proton's customers
For engineering leaders, the episode shows how fast a usage mandate can turn into a trust problem once it is tied to employment. If the employee 404 Media quoted is right, the same scrutiny now moves from a one-off test into ordinary performance reviews, where, Yen had already said on X, AI is part of the review "at most places." Amazon's engineering leaders took a different line in a memo published on October 27, saying outcomes matter more than how much AI an engineer uses.
For customers, the stakes are the product itself. Proton sells privacy, and its answer to the criticism is to make its process checkable: its statement says that, besides its open-source code, readers will be able to "assess how that code was produced." It gave no date for publishing the policies, the review process or the tools. When Yen replied on Reddit after the investigation, 404 Media reported, users downvoted his response more than 1,200 times and many said on social media they were cancelling paid plans.
