Proton, the Swiss company behind Proton VPN and Proton Mail, is asking its employees to show they can work with AI. The privacy-focused firm told staff on Monday that it will “re-interview” people across the company about how they use AI at work, and the outcome could decide who keeps their job, according to an internal email obtained by 404 Media.The process started at the top. CEO Andy Yen has already interviewed more than 40 senior leaders across Engineering and Product, the email says. Now the same test is moving down the org chart, and the company is clear about the stakes. “These re-interviews are consequential,” the email reads. It adds that the assessments will feed a wider review of the organisation that could lead to changes in roles, responsibilities and continued employment.
Proton employees will be assessed on AI skills by leaders outside their own team
The re-interviews will run from November 4 to 11. Employees won’t sit across from their own managers. The interviewer will come from outside their team and reporting line, chosen from a pool of leaders who, as per Proton, show strong AI capability and have agreed on common assessment criteria. Interviewers will document their assessments.Not everyone will be called in, and any decision about a person’s job will be shared separately. The email also acknowledges that the exercise creates uncertainty and promises individual outcomes as soon as possible.Proton’s ask is spelled out plainly. It wants people who can turn AI’s capabilities into better products and new ways of working, and who approach the change with “curiosity, judgment, and urgency.” Proton did not immediately respond to 404 Media’s request for comment.
Proton’s AI push comes as companies worldwide tie job cuts to automation
Yen has been steering Proton towards AI for a while. The company, which built its name on encrypted email, now offers Lumo, a chatbot pitched as a privacy-first alternative to mainstream AI assistants.Proton isn’t alone in rethinking its workforce around AI. This month, Barclays said it would cut about 5,000 jobs, Kroger around 3,000 and FICO roughly 15% of its staff, all in overhauls linked to AI. Last week, Goldman Sachs economists estimated that up to 9% of workers in developed economies could be displaced as AI spreads, with losses likely to speed up when the economy slows.For Proton’s employees, that global trend now comes down to a single conversation in November, with a leader from another team, about how they use AI in their jobs.
