Lumo: the AI that doesn't spy on you
Artificial intelligence is everywhere. ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot — these tools have become essential, but often at a cost that is overlooked: your data. Every question you ask, every document you analyze, every idea you share with these services can be stored, analyzed, and used to train models or display targeted ads.
Proton — the company behind Proton Mail, Proton VPN, and the Proton Foundation — has decided to do things differently with Lumo, an AI assistant based in Europe and designed from the ground up around a simple principle: your conversations belong to you.
Why Lumo is truly private
Lumo stands out from other AI assistants on several fundamental points, verifiable through its open source code:
🔒 No-logs policy
When you discuss with Lumo, your requests are encrypted in TLS and sent to Proton's servers. Once the response is generated, the data is deleted. No logs are kept — neither your question, nor Lumo's answer, nor even metadata like your IP address or timestamps.
🔑 Zero-access encryption
The history of your conversations is protected by zero-access encryption. This means that even Proton cannot read your chats — only you, through your Proton account, have access to it. Your data is end-to-end encrypted with a key that only you possess.
🚫 No training, no sharing
Unlike Google Gemini or ChatGPT, Lumo never uses your conversations to train its models. Proton neither shares nor sells your data to third parties. After each session, the logs are destroyed.
🇪🇺 European jurisdiction
Lumo is hosted and operated from Europe, under Swiss jurisdiction and GDPR compliant. This places the service outside the scope of US surveillance laws that can compel companies based in the United States to log their users' activity.
🔓 Open source models
Lumo relies on open source language models optimized by Proton (currently Qwen 3.5, GLM 5.2, and others), which run exclusively on servers controlled by Proton. Your data never passes through third-party platforms.
Comparison with competitors
| Criteria | Lumo | Gemini | Copilot | OpenAI | Claude |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Does not use your data for training | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Does not log your chats | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Cannot share your data | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Ad-free | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Protective jurisdiction | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Open source code | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
The table speaks for itself: Lumo is the only AI assistant that checks all the boxes.
What can Lumo do?
Lumo is not just a gadget — it’s a genuine productivity tool:
- Image generation from textual descriptions
- Optional web search for real-time information (with engines selected for their respect for privacy)
- Data analysis and summarization of confidential documents
- Writing assistance, summaries, explanations of technical concepts
- Code review and project management
- Projects: organize your conversations by context
- Anonymous access: usable via Tor in guest mode, no account creation required
Why I recommend Lumo
As a cybersecurity journalist, I see every day the consequences of negligence regarding personal data. Tech giants have turned our conversations with their AIs into advertising goldmines. Lumo breaks this model.
Lumo proves that you can have a powerful AI without sacrificing your privacy. The fact that the code is open source allows the community to verify Proton's claims — it's not a marketing promise, it's auditable.
For professionals handling sensitive data — lawyers, doctors, journalists, researchers — this is a crucial difference. But it also matters for the general public who simply don't want their intimate questions ending up in a database somewhere in a GAFAM cloud.
🎁 Try Lumo with my referral link
Do you want to support Proton and their mission while getting a privacy-respecting AI assistant? Use my referral link to create your account:
A free plan is available (with a limited number of messages), and the Lumo Plus plan unlocks unlimited chats, faster responses, and more image generations — all without compromising privacy.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is one of the most powerful tools of our time. But this power should not come at the cost of our privacy. Lumo, with its zero-access encryption, strict no-logs policy, open source models, and European jurisdiction, is today the best option for those who want to use AI without being exploited.
At CyberBar.fr, we don’t recommend often. But when we do, it’s worth it.
Sources: Proton — Official Lumo Page · Proton Support — Lumo Privacy