In an era dominated by data-hungry tech giants, Proton—a Swiss company well-known for its secure email, VPN, and cloud services—has launched a groundbreaking AI assistant named Lumo. Designed with privacy as its core principle, Lumo stands out as a promising alternative to mainstream AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini. With features rivaling top AI models but with unmatched privacy architecture, Lumo signals a turning point in the AI landscape.
This blog breaks down what Lumo is, how it protects your data, its features, pricing in Indian Rupees, and why it’s a big deal for Indian users concerned about digital privacy.
🔐 Privacy at the Heart of Lumo
What sets Lumo apart is Proton’s unwavering commitment to privacy. Here’s how Lumo ensures users’ data remains safe and secure:
- No Server-Side Logs: Your conversation history isn’t stored on Proton servers. If you choose to save chats, they are end-to-end encrypted and only stored locally on your device.
- Zero-Access Encryption: Only the user has
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Title: Proton Launches Lumo AI Chatbot: A Private and Secure Alternative to Big Tech AI
In an era where data has become the most valuable currency, privacy often takes a back seat in the world of artificial intelligence. Most popular AI assistants today, despite offering powerful features, are often powered by business models that rely heavily on collecting, analyzing, and monetizing user data. Breaking away from this trend, Proton, the Swiss company best known for its secure email, VPN, and cloud services, has launched Lumo—an AI chatbot built on one unwavering principle: your data remains yours.
This article dives deep into what Lumo offers, how it’s built differently, what makes it a real contender in the AI market, and why Indian users, in particular, might find this privacy-first chatbot a breath of fresh air.
🔐 Lumo: Privacy Built-In, Not Just Promised
Unlike most AI chatbots which store user interactions on cloud servers and use them to train future models, Lumo has been designed with end-to-end user privacy in mind.
Here’s how Lumo stands apart:
- No Server Storage: Lumo doesn’t store your chats on Proton’s servers. If you choose to save any conversations, they remain encrypted on your device only. This ensures that no one—not even Proton’s team—can access your private information.
- Zero-Access Encryption: Proton implements a security feature where even the service provider (Proton itself) cannot access user data. This is because all encryption keys are held only by the user. This kind of encryption is the backbone of all Proton services, including ProtonMail and Proton Drive.
- Your Data Isn’t Used to Train AI: A big concern with many AI services is that your inputs—whether personal thoughts, legal queries, health discussions, or even private jokes—are used to improve future models. Lumo explicitly avoids this practice. No part of your chat is fed back into model training.
- European Infrastructure & GDPR Compliance: Lumo runs entirely on servers based in Europe, ensuring complete compliance with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which is among the world’s strictest data privacy laws. Proton has made it clear that it doesn’t share user data with advertisers, third parties, or government agencies.
💡 What Can Lumo Do?
Lumo might be privacy-focused, but it doesn’t compromise on capability. It is a full-fledged AI chatbot offering a range of functionalities comparable to popular options like ChatGPT or Gemini:
- Text Understanding & Generation: Lumo can draft emails, summarize documents, write essays, and generate creative content. It’s useful for students, professionals, and casual users alike.
- Programming Support: Lumo uses a powerful open-source language model specifically optimized for coding queries. Whether it’s debugging, writing scripts, or explaining code, Lumo can assist without storing your inputs.
- File Upload & Analysis: Users can upload documents such as PDFs or Word files for the AI to analyze, summarize, or edit. Integration with Proton Drive allows easy file access—all while maintaining full encryption.
- Web Search (Optional): While most AI assistants automatically access the internet to fetch real-time data, Lumo gives you the control. Web search is off by default and only turns on when explicitly asked by the user. This ensures accidental data leakage is avoided.
🧠 Built on Open-Source Intelligence
Lumo isn’t just different in terms of data usage; it’s also built differently. Instead of using black-box proprietary models, Proton has opted for open-source large language models (LLMs). Among these are:
- Mistral Nemo series
- Mistral Small 3
- OpenHands 32B
- AI2’s OLMO 2 32B
Each model is used based on the task. For instance, coding queries are handled by OpenHands, while other models manage writing or summarizing tasks.
Using open-source models adds another layer of trust—they can be audited and verified independently, reducing the risk of hidden backdoors or data misuse. All model training and deployment happen in Proton’s in-house R&D centers in Europe.
📱 How to Use Lumo: Platform Support & Pricing (INR)
Proton has ensured that Lumo is accessible across platforms, making it easy for users to try and adopt.
Platform Support:
- Web Interface (accessible without signup)
- iOS and Android Apps
Lumo comes with three usage tiers:
- Guest Mode –
- No sign-up required
- Limited to around 25 queries per week
- No chat history
- Price: Free
- Free Tier –
- Requires Proton account
- Around 100 queries per week
- Allows limited file uploads
- Encrypted chat history
- Price: Free
- Lumo Plus –
- Unlimited queries
- Unlimited file uploads
- Priority responses
- Full chat history
- Multilingual support
- Price: ₹1,080 per month (approx. $12.99)
Lumo supports multiple languages including English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian, with more on the way.
🤔 Why Lumo Matters in Today’s AI World
The launch of Lumo in 2025 could not have come at a better time. Here’s why it’s relevant:
- Big Tech AI Has a Privacy Problem: Most of today’s top AI chatbots rely heavily on user data to improve their models. This data-driven model often leads to surveillance concerns. For Indian users especially, whose data might be routed through non-Indian servers, privacy can become a real concern.
- Transparency & Open Source: Proton’s decision to go open-source with Lumo’s backend removes any guesswork. It also encourages third-party audits and public trust.
- Seamless Integration with Proton Suite: For existing Proton users, Lumo integrates effortlessly with tools like ProtonMail, ProtonVPN, Proton Drive, and Proton Calendar—making it ideal for people already in the Proton ecosystem.
- No Ads, No Tracking: Unlike other “free” AI tools that monetize user behavior through ads or data resale, Proton operates as a mission-driven company. They don’t rely on advertising revenue, which aligns Lumo with ethical AI development.
🔍 Real-World Use Cases
Here are some ways Indian users can benefit from using Lumo:
- Students & Researchers: Summarizing academic papers, writing essays, and reviewing class notes securely.
- Lawyers & Doctors: Drafting sensitive documents without worrying about data leaks.
- Small Business Owners: Generating emails, managing documents, and even writing code securely.
- Privacy-Conscious Individuals: Those who don’t want their AI conversations ending up as training material for big corporations.
🏁 Final Thoughts: A Future Where AI and Privacy Coexist
Lumo is more than just another chatbot. It’s a vision of what AI could look like when built ethically. It shows that it’s possible to offer intelligent, responsive AI services without compromising user data.
For Indian users increasingly concerned about digital rights, surveillance, and privacy, Lumo provides a refreshing change. Whether you’re a techie, a student, or just a curious netizen, Lumo offers a private, powerful, and principled way to interact with AI.
And in a world where we’re constantly told that “you are the product,” it’s comforting to know there’s at least one chatbot that truly respects your right to privacy.
Try it Today
Lumo is now live via its web portal and mobile apps. Whether you’re exploring it as a guest or subscribing to the premium version, one thing’s certain: your conversations are yours alone.