Skip to main content

Proton is launching a privacy-focused AI chatbot

An image of the Lumo AI chatbot

Proton, the company behind the encrypted email service Proton Mail, has launched an AI assistant aimed at preserving user privacy. The new chatbot, called Lumo, can summarize documents, generate code, write emails, and more, while storing data locally on users’ devices.

Proton says it will protect this information using “zero-access” encryption, which grants users an encryption key that only they can use to view their content, preventing third parties, including Proton, from accessing the information. This helps ensure that Proton can’t share user data with advertisers or governments, or use it for training large language models, Proton says.

Though Lumo comes with the ability to search the web, Proton turns this feature off by default to “give users maximum privacy.” If users enable the feature, Lumo will search the web for answers using “privacy-friendly” search engines. Additionally, Proton says Lumo can analyze uploaded files, but it doesn’t save any of its information. Users can link Proton Drive files to Lumo as well, which are supposed to stay end-to-end encrypted when interacting with the chatbot.

Proton positions its AI chatbot as an alternative to the ones offered by larger companies, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta AI, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. “Big Tech is using AI to supercharge the collection of sensitive user data to accelerate the world’s transition to surveillance capitalism,” Andy Yen, the CEO and founder of Proton, says in the announcement. “Our vision for Lumo is AI that puts people ahead of profits.”

Lumo is powered by several open-source large language models that run on Proton’s servers in Europe, including Mistral’s Nemo, Mistral Small 3, Nvidia’s OpenHands 32B, and the Allen Institute for AI’s OLMO 2 32B model. The AI chatbot will field requests through different models depending on which is better-suited for the query. “For instance, programming-related questions are handled by OpenHands, which specializes in coding tasks,” Proton spokesperson Betsy Jones tells The Verge.

You can access Lumo now by heading to lumo.proton.me, or downloading the Lumo app for iOS and Android. Users who don’t have an account with Lumo or Proton can only ask the chatbot a “limited number” of questions each week, and they won’t be able to access their chat histories. Meanwhile, users with a free account can view an encrypted chat history, upload small files, and favorite a limited number of chats. There’s also a $12.99-per-month Lumo Plus plan for access to unlimited chats, extended encrypted chat history, unlimited favorites, and the ability to upload large files.



from The Verge https://ift.tt/GrDogFv
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pandora Stories lets artists add commentary to their own playlists

Pandora launched Stories today, a tool that lets artists and creators add voice commentary to their own playlists. The Stories feature merges podcasts with music playlists, and is meant for artists to add context to an album, or for podcasters to experiment with new storytelling formats. The feature is part of Pandora AMP, the streaming service’s free Artist Marketing Platform that helps creators promote their work. To kick off the launch, Pandora’s prepared some Stories by artists like John Legend and Daddy Yankee, who tell listeners their personal stories interspersed between their own songs. There’s also a Stories playlist called Love Songs That Aren’t Really Love Songs , which includes commentary on individual songs like a podcast... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2Xz1oNc
Post a Comment
Read more

Instagram’s updated algorithm prioritizes original content instead of rip-offs

Image: Kristen Radtke / The Verge Instagram is making significant changes to how its system recommends content, with a focus on original content and increased distribution for smaller accounts. The slew of changes were announced by the company in a blog post today. The biggest change deals with aggregators — accounts that download or screenshot other users’ videos and photos and repost them. Sometimes aggregators will credit the original poster by tagging them in the post or caption, but often, content is wholesale ripped off with no acknowledgment, and engagement is siphoned off from the person who created the content in the first place. Instagram clearly has a problem with this and will begin removing reposted content from recommendations across the platform. The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/ECgcPAU
Post a Comment
Read more

We asked camera companies why their RAW formats are all different and confusing

When you set up a new camera, or even go to take a picture on some smartphones, you’re presented with a key choice: JPG or RAW? JPGs are ready to post just about anywhere, while RAWs yield an unfinished file filled with extra data that allows for much richer post-processing. That option for a RAW file (and even the generic name, RAW) has been standardized across the camera industry — but despite that, the camera world has never actually settled on one standardized RAW format. Most cameras capture RAW files in proprietary formats, like Canon’s CR3, Nikon’s NEF, and Sony’s ARW. The result is a world of compatibility issues. Photo editing software needs to specifically support not just each manufacturer’s file type but also make changes for each new camera that shoots it. That creates pain for app developers and early camera adopters who want to know that their preferred software will just work. Adobe tried to solve this problem years ago with a universal RAW form...
Post a Comment
Read more