Proton, the encryption-focused Swiss firm behind Proton Mail, is conducting what it calls "re-interviews" with portions of its workforce to assess their approach to artificial intelligence tools. The outcome of these conversations could determine whether employees remain with the company. Leaked internal communications reveal that chief executive Andy Yen has been pushing engineers to abandon traditional coding practices in favour of AI-assisted development, 404 Media reported.
The disclosure came through reporting by Joseph Cox, who first detailed the re-interview initiative on Monday based on an internal email, then published a broader investigation on Thursday drawing from nine current and former staff members, Slack conversations, recorded meetings, and a document authored by the company's chief technology officer.
Interviews with employment consequences
The internal email describes these re-interviews as "consequential", with assessors documenting their findings for subsequent review. That broader evaluation could result in role modifications or decisions affecting "continued employment", according to the message.
Yen personally conducted interviews with more than 40 senior engineering and product leaders to begin the process. The wider staff will not all participate in re-interviews. Assessors will be selected from outside each employee's immediate team, specifically from leadership figures who "demonstrate strong AI capability". The interview window spans from 4 to 11 November.
Proton subsequently addressed the situation on Reddit, stating that layoffs are not occurring and that AI is not being used as a pretext for workforce reductions, according to TechRadar. The company pointed to a talent shortage, ongoing hiring efforts, and a desire to identify which staff members might benefit from additional training and support.
Yen's messaging on internal channels
During August, an engineer requested several days to conduct security evaluations on unreleased code. Yen responded by characterising the proposal as "bullshit and loser thinking", according to Slack messages reviewed by 404 Media. He instructed the engineering team to reduce manual code development and increase their reliance on artificial intelligence systems.
This will be the last year that we hire engineers
Andy Yen, in a Slack message obtained by 404 Media
Following Proton's announcement of post-quantum encryption capabilities in May, Reddit users highlighted a shortcoming: the feature did not extend to previously received messages. Yen conveyed to his team that "perception is more important than truth", 404 Media reported.
During an October meeting, chief technology officer Bart Butler stated that artificial intelligence had authored 90 percent of Proton's codebase. 404 Media obtained a recording of this meeting. Several employees indicated they had produced much of this code using Anthropic's Claude model. Additionally, Proton deployed monitoring software across employee workstations to measure the proportion of code generated by AI systems.
Internal documentation indicates that Proton is falling short of its annual recurring revenue objectives for the current year, attributing the shortfall to "insufficient velocity".
The company's statement
A Proton representative did not contest the accuracy of 404 Media's findings and offered this comment to the publication:
In our determination to move fast, we have sometimes been too blunt or too slow in explaining ourselves to our people
Proton spokesperson
In August, Yen spoke with WIRED about the necessity for privacy-focused companies to develop their own AI systems. Without doing so, he argued, they surrender the future to organisations without genuine commitment to user protection. Proton's conversational AI tool, Lumo, does not retain conversation records or use user data for model training, the company maintains.
The situation at Proton reflects broader industry tensions around AI adoption. Amazon has cautioned its engineering teams against prioritising AI usage statistics, while an Anthropic manager has eliminated coding assessments from their hiring process. Microsoft announced this week that it would provide severance packages to 60,000 employees.
Source: The Next Web
