Proton, the privacy‑focused productivity app company, updated its public AI chatbot Lumo on Tuesday, following the bot's initial launch last year. The Lumo 2.0 release introduces several new capabilities, notably image recognition and image generation.
User-facing features
- Image upload and analysis: users can now upload pictures for Lumo to analyze or edit.
- Image generation: Lumo 2.0 can create imagery from user prompts, similar to other large language model (LLM) systems.
Projects and persistent memory
Version 2.0 expands the Projects widget, which lets users upload documents and work with them across Proton’s other products such as email and cloud storage. Projects now include a user‑controlled persistent memory feature, enabling Lumo to remember a user's preferences across multiple conversational sessions.
Performance and a new "thinking mode"
Proton says Lumo 2.0 is substantially more powerful than the previous iteration: responses to most queries are up to 76 percent faster. The chatbot also gains a new "thinking mode" intended for tackling more complex problems or questions.
Privacy model and operational details
Proton differentiates Lumo with privacy protections. The company describes a "zero‑access encryption architecture" that encrypts user data both in transit and at rest, allowing access only to the user. Proton also states it does not retain server‑side session logs, meaning Proton staff cannot view conversation contents. The company further promises never to use customer data for AI training or to share it with third parties.
Comparison and availability
The public version of Lumo is roughly comparable to other major chatbots in usefulness: Proton says it answers queries in a similar format and with a similar level of detail and context as Google Gemini and OpenAI ChatGPT.
Lumo 2.0 is available immediately. In addition to the free public version, Proton offers paid tiers (Plus and Professional) that provide more access and resources to users.
Timing and quote
Lumo was first made public last year; the 2.0 update was announced on Tuesday. Andy Yen, Founder and CEO of Proton, commented: “Lumo 2.0 has been re‑engineered from the ground up and the introduction of thinking mode gives it powerful new capabilities. Lumo 2.0 demonstrates that users no longer need to choose between powerful AI capabilities and meaningful privacy protections.”
