Lumo, by Proton, a European creator of privacy-enhancing productivity tools, was just released in public beta. This revolutionary AI assistant is built with a deep commitment to protecting user data and privacy. With this announcement, Proton continues working towards a world with secure communication and transparency as the default in the digital age.
In the burgeoning field of AI assistants, Lumo is unique. That’s because it ensures that all of its users’ activity is encrypted and keeps no logs. This approach is intended to address fears about data privacy and surveillance that are frequently associated with AI technologies. Proton’s European home, particularly its base in Tønsberg, Norway, is central to this challenge. It allows the tech company to benefit from extremely rigorous privacy laws, providing it a competitive advantage over American and Chinese competitors.
While not perfect, Lumo’s use of open-source language models is a step toward transparency that you won’t find with the other big AI assistants, according to Proton. The company wants to stress that Lumo runs exclusively out of their European datacenters. This ensures that user queries remain private and are never shared with advertisers.
“Lumo is based upon open-source language models and operates from Proton’s European datacenters. This gives you much greater transparency into the way Lumo works than any other major AI assistant. Unlike Apple Intelligence and others, Lumo is not a partnership with OpenAI or other American or Chinese AI companies, and your queries are never sent to any third parties,” – Proton
Lumo’s launch is serendipitously timed to fit perfectly with Proton’s mission. We are deeply passionate about providing safe and private options in a technology environment dominated by data-immersed multinationals. The company offers up its European base of operations as one of its strongest advantages at safeguarding user privacy. This has uniquely positioned it against competitors, often based in states with much lower regulatory bars.
At the end of August, TechCrunch reported about the official launch of Lumo. Ivan, a writer on global consumer tech developments based in India, reported the full story. Ivan joins us from strong stints at the Huffington Post along with other influential publications including The Next Web. His comments on Lumo’s launch are indicative of the increasing consumer appetite for privacy-focused technologies.
The digital world is encountering a crisis of privacy. If Lumo reflects Proton’s commitment to transparency and user protection, we hope that this will become the industry standard. The company’s fundamental approach to privacy might appeal to users looking for alternatives to popular, mainstream AI products.