Proton wants to vibe code. Your encrypted email might disagree

I’m not the kind of journalist who counts on encrypted email for protection. But if I were, I’d be reconsidering how much I trust services that market themselves that way.

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The reason for this concern: A bit of drama involving Proton, best known for its end-to-end encrypted email and VPN services. As initially reported by 404 Media, an aggressive push for AI use in development led to purported clashes between CEO Andy Yen and rank-and-file employees. In one exchange, a request for more time to check for security vulnerabilities in new code was criticized as “bullshit and loser thinking” by Yen, who also said, “Stop thinking always of how to be slower, and focus more on how to be faster.”

The final alleged directive: “Stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more.”