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A new 404 Media investigation describes demands for faster development and AI-led code review. Proton acknowledged employee anxiety and promised better communication.
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Proton’s AI push has become a measurable engineering mandate: CTO Bart Butler said AI produced 90% of the company’s code in October, and an internal manifesto envisioned AI handling most code review. Reporting based on employee interviews and internal records describes pressure to accelerate releases alongside concerns about security, job security, and leadership’s messaging. The tension for Proton is how to raise development speed without eroding review practices or employee trust; the company acknowledged staff anxiety and said it would do more to answer questions.
In a September manifesto, Butler told engineers, “Your old job is gone,” and argued that AI should eventually review most code.
In August, CEO Andy Yen called a request for several days of security testing “bullshit and loser thinking,” according to Slack messages quoted by 404 Media.
Proton’s internal policy allowed AI use for coding except work that immediately advantaged competitors or related to innovation or research and development.
Proton CTO Bart Butler said AI wrote 90% of the company’s code in October, according to meeting audio obtained by 404 Media. Its October 29 investigation also describes employees afraid to raise security concerns as leaders push the privacy-focused company toward faster AI development and a future with less human code review.
Joseph Cox’s investigation draws on interviews with eight current employees and one former employee, alongside Slack messages, meeting recordings and an internal AI manifesto.
In an August 18 WIRED interview, CEO Andy Yen said Proton had been “reluctantly pulled in” to AI after concluding it was unavoidable. Privacy-focused companies, he argued, needed to offer an alternative to large technology companies.
By late August, internal exchanges showed a more forceful message. When an employee asked for at least a few days to test newly written code for security weaknesses before release, Yen called that “bullshit and loser thinking,” according to Slack messages quoted by Cox. He urged staff to stop handcrafting all their code and use AI more.
Of course it’s possible to be fast and secure.
Andy Yen, in an August Slack message quoted by 404 Media
Butler made the proposed transformation explicit in a September manifesto posted to Slack. Engineers’ work, he argued, should become helping AI write better code faster. The company should also reach a point where AI, rather than humans, reviews most code. The document told engineers: “Your old job is gone.”
An employee objected that the language would scare people. Butler said it was deliberately provocative and asked for questions on Monday rather than in Slack.
Multiple employees said much of Proton’s AI-written code came from Anthropic’s Claude. An internal policy reviewed by Cox permitted AI use for:
An internal document said Proton was missing its annual recurring revenue target because of “insufficient velocity.” Employees understood this week’s announcement of AI-use re-interviews as potentially affecting whether they kept their jobs.
Proton did not dispute the investigation’s reporting or characterization, according to 404 Media. Its spokesperson acknowledged employee anxiety and said leadership had sometimes been “too blunt or too slow” in explaining its direction. The company promised to work on answering employees’ questions.
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