Proton does not trust Switzerland to host its AI servers

Company is developing new AI, but no longer trusts Switzerland Keystone-SDA

The Geneva-based cybersecurity firm has lost faith in Switzerland due to proposed surveillance law changes.

Proton’s investments in servers will be made abroad, because the legislative changes proposed by the governing Federal Council. The encrypted email service provider fears a regime of mass surveillance of the population.

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“Today, the market for generative artificial intelligence services is dominated by the Americans and the Chinese, with Google Gemini, ChatGPT, DeepSeek and Microsoft Copilot,” says Andy Yen, director of the Geneva-based firm, in an interview published today by Le Temps. “We feel it is crucial to offer alternatives. If you look at the development of the Internet, from its origins the problem stems from the fact that in the late 1990s we let American companies dominate online search. This led to the dominant economic model of today: surveillance capitalism.”

The company is creating its own AI, which bears the name Lumo. “Thanks to very strong encryption, the information you share with our AI cannot be used or disclosed,” Yen claims. “The history of your conversations belongs to you; no one, not even Proton, can access them.”

The infrastructure for Lumo will not be located in Switzerland, however. Proton has opted for Germany instead and is also developing facilities in Norway at a cost of CHF 100 million. Proposed changes to the Swiss law on surveillance influenced the decision.

“It is an unprecedented situation. Cabient Minister Beat Jans’ proposal is extreme: it aims to impose mass surveillance in Switzerland, which is illegal not only in the EU but also in the US. This would force Swiss companies to spy on their users on behalf of the state. If this bill were to pass, the services offered by Proton in Switzerland would be less private than those offered by Google,” says Yen.

Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac

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