--- title: Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews' | daily.dev description: Proton CEO Andy Yen canceled company-wide 're-interviews' that would have forced employees to justify their AI usage, with possible firings for insufficient... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/proton-s-ceo-cancels-ai-re-interviews--kcralpi56 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews' | daily.dev og:description: Proton CEO Andy Yen canceled company-wide 're-interviews' that would have forced employees to justify their AI usage, with possible firings for insufficient... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/proton-s-ceo-cancels-ai-re-interviews--kcralpi56 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/kcralPI56.png og:image:alt: Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews' og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews' **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Proton CEO Andy Yen canceled company-wide 're-interviews' that would have forced employees to justify their AI usage, with possible firings for insufficient adoption. The move came after a 404 Media investigation showing Yen pushing AI aggressively despite employee security concerns, including telling staff to 'stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more.' Yen said there will be no loss of jobs from AI, and one employee said the re-interview measures would become a component of performance reviews. Employees remained split, with one calling it damage control and another saying the direction had not changed, while Yen holds the majority of Proton's shares. Yen's Reddit response was downvoted more than 1,200 times, and many users said they were cancelling paid Proton plans. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Why did Proton cancel its AI re-interviews for employees? Proton CEO Andy Yen canceled the re-interviews after a 404 Media investigation exposed that employees would have had to justify their AI usage or risk being fired, and after the story triggered backlash from employees and users. Yen said the AI-usage criteria that would have been assessed in the re-interviews will instead be folded into regular performance reviews, with 'no loss of jobs from AI.' _Developers tracking how companies are mandating AI adoption internally can follow stories like this on daily.dev._ ### What did Proton's CEO say about security concerns when pushing AI adoption at the company? Andy Yen dismissed an employee's request to pentest newly written code before deploying it, calling it 'bullshit and loser thinking' in the company's security Slack channel in late August. He told staff to 'stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more,' arguing it's possible to be both fast and secure, which fueled internal concerns about deprioritized security practices. _Anyone weighing how fast AI-driven code gets shipped versus security review can track this kind of fallout on daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 1 discussion and 118 comments across hackernews (as of 2026-10-30). **TL;DR:** Commenters largely view the CEO's conduct and the canceled re-interview policy as a reversal forced by backlash rather than genuine change, with many saying they're canceling Proton subscriptions and recommending alternatives like Fastmail; a smaller group pushes back that demanding AI adoption and performance isn't itself unreasonable. **Sentiment:** 3% positive · 12% mixed · 85% skeptical **The case for** - A minority argue it's fair for leadership to be direct about wanting employees to adopt AI or leave, and performance demands aren't inherently abusive. - Some feel it was at least honest to state the AI requirement openly rather than quietly filtering employees out. **The pushback** - Many see the 'loser thinking' remark toward employees raising security concerns as disrespectful and a red flag for a security-focused company. - Commenters argue the apology was non-apology/damage control, acknowledging poor communication rather than the substance of the policy. - Several note the episode undermines trust in Proton specifically because its brand promise is security and privacy. - Some question whether forcing AI adoption actually improves outcomes or just adds pressure without clear benefit. - A number of people are actively switching to alternatives like Fastmail or mailbox.org, citing loss of trust in leadership. **By community** - hackernews (skeptical): Discussion is dominated by criticism of the CEO's language and leadership style, with many commenters announcing plans to leave Proton, alongside a smaller contingent debating whether the criticism is overblown. **Hottest debate:** Whether demanding AI adoption and firm performance standards is reasonable management or evidence of a toxic, humanity-losing leadership culture. **Open questions** - Is this policy reversal a genuine change in direction or just public-relations damage control? - Will employees who don't fit the AI-first mandate still be pushed out through other means? - How much has the AI push actually compromised Proton's security practices and pentesting rigor? **Highlights** > “That’s bullshit and loser thinking. Of course it’s possible to be fast and secure,” Yen wrote in the channel at the end of August. “Stop thinking always of how to be slower, and focus more on how to be faster.” Yen added, “stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more.” I mean, I also appreciate the honesty of the CEO to say that security is not important anymore and if it is to you, this company is not a good fit anymore. Letting people go for invented reasons isn't something that happens in civilized countries, by the way. > — [Sharlin on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308138) > > “That’s bullshit and loser thinking. Of course it’s possible to be fast and secure,” Yen wrote in the channel at the end of August. “Stop thinking always of how to be slower, and focus more on how to be faster.” Yen added, “stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more.” Andy Yen is a prick. This is what is driving the "AI revolution" folks: C-level assholes who are more interested in maximizing their gains than creating healthy businesses with motivated employees--everything is different now, but nothing has changed. They all get to cash out with much more benefit than anyone else in the orgs they run if things go well, and if things don't work out it's no skin off their teeth, they are loaded and have all the power. They don't lose their jobs or income; if they have destroyed people's careers via layoffs or created (more) toxic work environments who cares. And apparently that goes all the way to destroying human society entirely if we're talking about scum like Dario Amodei or Sam Altman, who couldn't find their way out of a metaphorical ethical wet paper bag if someone poked a hole in it for them. I am not an AI doomer or against LLMs conceptually--I've found them very useful for hobby projects, and at work they've enabled some positives (while creating plenty of negatives too)--but it's disgusting to see how much we are all being dragged around by the nose by people who could care less about anyone but themselves, even after having that thrown in our face over and over by these same tech C-suite scumbags over the last two decades in so many other ways. I'm so tired of it. > — [ddellacosta on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50307778) > << “I want to acknowledge myself, personally, that there was a communication failure on my part and there are many things that probably could and should have been communicated differently, and this is something that I’ll have to reflect on and improve over time. So I will do that.” Note how he says that he wants to 'acknowledge' things. Not apologize. Not that he is wrong about the re-interviews. He says he didn't use nice enough language to soften the blow. Basically, in simple terms, he didn't Lisa it up as temporary refund adjustment. edit: and the passive voice is a cherry on top > — [iugtmkbdfil834 on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308264) > Looking at the comments I seem to be the minority, but I appreciated the honesty to say, look we want to use AI and if you don't then this company is not a good fit anymore. Now they will let go these people anyway, but in a less transparent way. > — [\_ink\_ on hackernews · 5 comments](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308002) > I expect Proton's existing employees may be a particularly bad audience for a "let the AI worry about security" message from the top, given that they are more likely to be a) security experts and b) people who care enough about security to actively seek out a job at Proton. > — [simonw on hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308047) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50307183) · 99 points · 118 comments ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Proton goes all in on using AI](https://daily.dev/posts/proton-goes-all-in-on-using-ai-ld4etb5uu) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Terminated employee cost company hundreds of thousands of dollars because nobody revoked access](https://daily.dev/posts/terminated-employee-cost-company-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-because-nobody-revoked-access-lx82sru1i) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#privacy](https://daily.dev/tags/privacy) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/proton-s-ceo-cancels-ai-re-interviews--kcralpi56) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/proton-s-ceo-cancels-ai-re-interviews--kcralpi56","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/proton-s-ceo-cancels-ai-re-interviews--kcralpi56"},"datePublished":"2026-10-30T18:04:43.536Z","dateModified":"2026-10-30T19:05:47.965Z","description":"Proton CEO Andy Yen canceled company-wide 're-interviews' that would have forced employees to justify their AI usage, with possible firings for insufficient...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b56b65b714e2a67464eedabb47b8fb6e?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/b56b65b714e2a67464eedabb47b8fb6e?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/proton-s-ceo-cancels-ai-re-interviews--kcralpi56","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,career,privacy","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Proton's CEO Cancels AI 'Re-Interviews'"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/proton-s-ceo-cancels-ai-re-interviews--kcralpi56#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did Proton cancel its AI re-interviews for employees?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Proton CEO Andy Yen canceled the re-interviews after a 404 Media investigation exposed that employees would have had to justify their AI usage or risk being fired, and after the story triggered backlash from employees and users. 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