Proton is re-interviewing staff about how they use AI and their jobs could depend on the answers

Date:
Tue, 27 Oct 2026 15:36:31 +0000

Description:
Proton will re-interview employees about their use of AI next month, and a leaked email says the outcome could change roles or end jobs. Here is what we know.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Proton will re-interview some employees about how they use AI at work between November 4 and 11. A leaked email says the results could affect roles, responsibilities, and continued employment. Proton denies it is using AI as an excuse for layoffs, but the move mirrors a growing trend of AI-first workplace mandates. Proton, the
Swiss company behind Proton Mail and one of the best VPN services around, has told staff it will re-interview employees about how they use AI in their
jobs.

The plan was revealed in an internal email obtained by 404 Media . It describes the interviews as consequential, warning that assessments will feed into a wider review that may lead to changes in roles, responsibilities, and continued employment. From the outside, it's a somewhat jarring move from a company built on pushing back against Big Tech. But it also puts Proton in step with a growing list of tech firms that now treat AI fluency as a job requirement. What Proton told its staff According to the email, CEO Andy Yen began the process by interviewing more than 40 senior leaders across Engineering and Product. Those interviews are now being extended across the company, although not everyone will be called in.

The selected staff will be assessed by someone outside their own team and reporting line, drawn from a pool of leaders who demonstrate strong AI capability. The interviews run from November 4 to 11, and employees have been told to bring concrete examples of how AI has changed their work and what results it produced. You may like 'Nine out of ten people prefer our version of the internet over Google's' Proton Founder Andy Yen on age verification, Big Tech, AI, and the future of digital privacy We are telling AI chatbots
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thought AI could do the job instead of humans what happened next should surprise absolutely nobody

Proton has since responded to the leaked email publicly on Reddit, saying it is not doing layoffs and using AI as an excuse. The company claims it's
facing a talent shortage, is hiring across the organization, and wants to identify who needs extra support.

Proton's general relationship with AI is a reluctant one. It does have an AI product, the Lumo chatbot , but Yen told Wired in August that he sees AI as a form of surveillance and that Proton was reluctantly drawn into building it once it was clear AI is here to stay. Part of a wider AI-first push Proton is far from the first tech company to tie AI skills to job security. In April 2025, Shopify CEO Tobi Ltke told teams they must show why AI cant do a job before asking for more headcount. Duolingo followed with its own AI-first memo, saying it would stop using contractors for work AI could handle.

Others have gone further, adding AI into performance reviews. Meta made AI-driven impact a core expectation for every employee from 2026, while
Google has started factoring AI use into reviews for its software engineers.

These policies have not always gone to plan, though. In September, Meta told staff it would no longer use AI adoption dashboards or token counts to judge performance, after employees began gaming usage leaderboards.

There's another problem: cost. Many companies have been using AI for a while now, and the bills have been racking up.

AI is a tool like any other, having both effective and ineffective ways to
use it. Ineffective use incurs a lot of cost and produces little to no value, giving companies another reason to investigate how it's being usedto weed out people spending loads but contributing very little.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-services/proton-is-re-interviewing-staff-abo ut-how-they-use-ai-and-their-jobs-could-depend-on-the-answers


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