Proton CEO Is In 'Full AI Psychosis'

Proton CEO Andy Yen is pushing for widespread AI adoption while cultivating a culture of fear that discourages employees from raising security concerns or questioning leadership, according to an investigation by 404 Media. Reports from eight current and one former Proton employees, along with internal communications and an AI manifesto penned by the company's CTO, reveal that workers are being pressured to transition away from "handcrafting all our code" and embrace AI more aggressively.

Workers express genuine concerns about security issues and the development of security products incorporating AI, yet feel unable to express these worries, fearing retribution from Yen. One source described Yen as suffering from "AI psychosis" for some time now. In a particular instance, Yen dismissed an employee's request for extra security testing before deploying new code, labeling it "bullshit and loser thinking" and asserting that "only losers think like that."

Another incident involved Yen criticizing the company's approach to post-quantum encryption rollout, emphasizing the importance of perception over truth. He reportedly told employees, "perception is more important than truth, the truth doesn't matter if you don't win on perception." Yen further urged the security Slack channel: "Get onboard or get crushed... Don't be the professional fax machine operator in the internet age."

The investigation suggests that Yen believes AI will soon write and run tests for code validation, rendering human code review obsolete by the end of the year. He envisions next year as the last for hiring engineers, with a shift towards hiring "product managers" to build AI-driven products.