Have you ever ever typed one thing non-public into an AI chatbot and puzzled the place that info really goes? Perhaps it was a piece doc, a private thought, or perhaps a delicate query you didn’t need connected to your title. With AI turning into a part of on a regular basis life, that feeling of “what occurs to my information after I hit ship?” is turning into more durable to disregard.
Actually, a Pew Analysis Heart survey discovered that 70% of Individuals who’ve heard of AI have little to no belief in corporations to make accountable choices about how they use AI of their merchandise.
That’s the place Lumo AI takes a distinct strategy. Created by Proton (the corporate behind Proton Mail and Proton VPN) Lumo is an AI assistant designed round privateness first. As a substitute of utilizing your conversations to enhance AI fashions, Lumo makes use of zero-access encryption, which means even Proton can’t learn your saved chats.
However privateness alone isn’t sufficient. An ideal AI assistant nonetheless must be helpful. So I examined Lumo AI to see the way it handles real-world duties like analyzing paperwork, researching info, organizing initiatives, and answering advanced questions.
On this Lumo AI overview, I’ll focus on the professionals and cons, what it’s, who it’s greatest for, and its key options. Then, I’ll present you the way I arrange and used Lumo AI to run a personal analysis workflow from begin to end.
I’ll end the article by evaluating it to my prime three alternate options (Duck.ai, Kagi, and Venice.ai). By the top, you’ll know which AI assistant is best for you.
Verdict
General, Lumo AI is a good alternative for individuals who desire a extra non-public AI assistant with out giving up helpful options like file uploads, internet search, picture instruments, and entry gadgets. Whereas it might not be as highly effective as some main AI fashions and may make errors, it affords an excellent steadiness of privateness, simplicity, and day by day usefulness.
Professionals and Cons
- Robust privateness with encrypted chats that Proton can’t even learn.
- Conversations aren’t used to coach AI fashions.
- Ghost Mode lets you’ve non-public chats that aren’t saved.
- Protected by Swiss and European privateness legal guidelines.
- Newbie-friendly interface that’s straightforward to make use of.
- Add recordsdata like PDFs and CSVs for evaluation.
- Join with Proton Drive to securley entry your recordsdata.
- Tasks and reminiscence assist arrange your work throughout chats and gadgets.
- Free to strive with out creating an account.
- Nice for writing, summarizing, analysis, and primary coding duties.
- Non-public internet seek for discovering up-to-date info.
- Can generate and perceive photographs with Lumo 2.0.
- Obtainable on the internet, iOS, and Android.
- Not as highly effective as one of the best AI fashions for advanced duties, coding, or writing.
- Could make errors or give overstatements, so solutions have to be verified by a human.
- Could also be extra cautious and refuse some requests that different AI assistants reply.
- The free plan has pretty strict utilization limits.
- Your prompts should nonetheless be processed by the AI to generate a response, despite the fact that your chats are encrypted.
- Fewer options and integrations than some bigger AI assistants.
- Chat historical past is proscribed to 7 days on the free plan.
What’s Lumo AI?
Lumo is an AI chat assistant made by Proton that places privateness first. Not simply privateness as a advertising declare, however baked into the way it works. It makes use of “zero-access encryption,” which implies your conversations get encrypted in order that even Proton themselves can’t learn them.
The Firm Behind Lumo AI: Proton
In case you don’t know Proton, they’re the corporate behind Proton Mail and Proton VPN. So after they launched an AI assistant, it felt like a pure subsequent step for a corporation that’s been within the privateness recreation for some time.
Primarily based in Europe
Lumo runs on European infrastructure and operates underneath Swiss and EU-style privateness legislation, not US legislation. That distinction is larger than it sounds.
The distinction is that Swiss and European privateness frameworks (corresponding to GDPR) typically place stronger restrictions on information assortment and processing than many U.S. privateness legal guidelines. As a European-based firm, Lumo operates inside that stricter privateness setting.
Open-Supply Code for Belief & Transparency
One factor I actually admire about Lumo is that its code is open supply, permitting safety researchers and anybody to examine the way it works as a substitute of taking privateness claims at face worth.
“Privateness-focused” doesn’t imply “much less succesful,” as if Lumo is a stripped-down chatbot that may’t do a lot. It may reply questions, assist create drafts, and carry out internet searches when enabled. It’s a full AI assistant, simply designed round a distinct strategy: serving to you with out utilizing your conversations to construct a private profile.
Who’s Lumo AI Finest For?
Lumo AI is greatest for individuals who want robust privateness and information management:
- Professionals who worth privateness and deal with delicate info (like legal professionals, therapists, journalists, and researchers) and don’t need their chats saved or used for AI coaching.
- Builders and founders constructing software program, working with delicate code, or growing new merchandise who wish to preserve their information non-public.
- Healthcare and authorized professionals who deal with delicate info and wish additional privateness safety.
- Individuals who choose European privateness protections and need their information saved on European servers as a substitute of with US-based suppliers.
- College students and researchers who work on essential paperwork like theses, grant proposals, or purposes and wish to preserve their drafts non-public.
- Writers who use AI for outlines, drafts, and articles and wish to preserve their recordsdata protected.
- Individuals who desire a easy, ad-free AI assistant for writing, analysis, coding, and planning whereas prioritizing privateness.
Lumo AI Key Options
Listed below are Lumo AI’s key options.
Privateness & Safety
- Chats are protected with encryption, which means solely you’ve entry to the important thing wanted to learn them.
- Chats aren’t logged or used to coach AI fashions.
- Ghost Mode retains your conversations non permanent and off the file, with out saving them to your machine or account.
- Lumo makes use of open-source software program and fashions hosted on Proton’s European servers.
Intelligence
- Solves advanced issues (Pondering Mode) by breaking them into smaller steps.
- Code help for writing, understanding, and debugging code.
- Summarizes paperwork and helps create content material like emails, blogs, and scripts.
- Lumo 2.0 can now create and perceive photographs.
- Use the Max mannequin for advanced work or the Lite mannequin for on a regular basis duties.
Context & Reminiscence
- Lengthy-term reminiscence remembers your preferences and particulars throughout chats when enabled.
- Tasks arrange associated chats, recordsdata, and directions in workspaces that sync throughout gadgets.
Net & File Integration
- Non-public internet search could be turned on if you want up-to-date info.
- File uploads allow you to analyze paperwork like PDFs and CSVs so as to add extra context to your chats.
- Proton Drive integration attaches recordsdata straight out of your Drive.
Tips on how to Use Lumo AI
Right here’s how I arrange and used Lumo AI to run a personal analysis workflow from begin to end:
- Discover the Modes (Visitor & Ghost)
- Create a Free Account
- Obtain the Restoration Phrase
- Create a New Venture
- Add a File
- Flip Off Net Search
- Select an AI Mannequin & Reply Mode
- Ship a Immediate
- Validate the Info
- Strive Ghost Mode
Step 1: Discover the Modes (Visitor & Ghost)
Go to lumo.proton.me (or launch the cellular app). You may leap proper in as a visitor with out creating an account for immediate queries.
Because you haven’t created an account, your queries are deleted and aren’t linked to any private info or account historical past. So this selection is greatest if you wish to shortly take a look at Lumo whereas maintaining your interactions separate from a private profile.
For instance, you may choose Visitor Mode (or Ghost Mode) when sharing delicate info with Lumo, like unreleased API keys, non-public code snippets, or confidential contracts. This provides you an additional layer of peace of thoughts by stopping native historical past from saving.
Step 2: Create a Free Account
Alternatively, you possibly can create a free account.
Creating an account permits you to sync conversations throughout gadgets, add recordsdata by way of Proton Drive, and use personalised reminiscence throughout chats. Proton protects these options with zero-access encryption, so your information stays non-public and can’t be accessed by Proton.
Step 3: Obtain the Restoration Phrase
When making a Lumo AI account, you’l get a restoration phrase. This phrase will restore your Proton account in the event you’re ever locked out, so ensure you retailer it safely.
That’s how severely Proton takes your privateness and safety. Even Proton can’t recuperate your account with out this phrase.
Step 4: Create a New Venture
As soon as your account is created, click on “+” subsequent to “Tasks” within the sidebar.
Give the undertaking a reputation (e.g., “Q3 M&A Goal Evaluation”).
From there, Set your Venture Directions. Add persistent guidelines like: “At all times output responses in markdown, prioritize danger components, and format monetary metrics in commonplace tables.”
Step 5: Add a File
Add a file by hitting the “+” within the empty discipline with certainly one of these three strategies:
- Add a file from Proton Drive
- Add out of your machine
- Draw a sketch
Step 6: Flip Off Net Search
Click on on “Instruments” and switch the “Net search” toggle off.
Step 7: Select an AI Mannequin & Reply Mode
Subsequent, select your mannequin.
Be certain that the AI mannequin is about to “Lumo 2.0 Max” (a high-performance mannequin for advanced duties), and ensure “Pondering Mode” (for extra thorough solutions) is chosen.
Step 8: Ship a Immediate
Final however not least, add your immediate (e.g., “Extract the highest 3 monetary liabilities talked about throughout these connected studies”) and hit ship.
Step 9: Validate the Info
Instantly, Lumo started working and answered my query inside seconds.
Most of its evaluation was correct, however it did make a couple of unsupported claims. For instance, it incorrectly said that Acme had the smallest revenue-cost hole, when Nexus really had the thinnest working margin.
However other than a handful of overstatements and one factual error, the evaluation was roughly 75% correct.
Step 10: Strive Ghost Mode
Subsequent, begin a brand new chat and activate Ghost Mode.
It launches an incognito session that runs parallel to your foremost workspace. It doesn’t save any historical past to your native storage, and the second you shut the browser tab or cellular session, all non permanent encryption keys and dialog RAM are completely purged.
For instance, you should use Ghost Mode to shortly lookup latest information in regards to the firm you’re researching. Utilizing a personal session retains these searches separate out of your common chats, so that they received’t seem in your historical past or have an effect on your saved conversations.
To activate Ghost Mode, flip the Ghost Mode toggle on within the left navigation sidebar.
When you’ve obtained Ghost Mode turned on, re-enable the Net Search device within the backside panel, preserve the mannequin set to Lumo 2.0 Max, and sort:
“What are the latest public regulatory filings or information updates relating to OpenAI’s information privateness compliance standing?”
Inside seconds, Lumo searches the online and returns a abstract of the newest outcomes.
When you’ve copied the important thing factors into your native undertaking notes, simply shut the Ghost tab. The complete session disappears, leaving no file in your account historical past or in your machine.
Nonetheless, whereas the data was largely correct, some claims wanted stronger sources. For essential subjects like authorized points or compliance, it’s greatest to make use of it as a place to begin for analysis and double-check the data with official sources.
General, Lumo AI impressed me with its privateness options, straightforward setup, and skill to shortly analyze paperwork and search the online. Whereas its solutions had been typically correct and helpful, I discovered that essential claims nonetheless wanted verification. It’s a robust analysis assistant however not a substitute for checking official sources.
High 3 Lumo AI Options
Common AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini as a result of they lack strict zero-access encryption, log conversations, and use information for mannequin coaching. Listed below are one of the best Lumo AI alternate options I’d recomend.
DuckDuckGo AI (Duck AI)
The primary Lumo AI different I’d suggest is Duck.ai. It’s one other AI chatbot centered on privateness from DuckDuckGo that provides you entry to well-liked AI fashions (like GPT-5.4 and Claude Haiku 4.5) without having an account or storing your private info.
Each platforms prioritize privateness, so that they’re each nice choices for individuals who need AI help with out having their conversations used for monitoring or coaching. In addition they each provide nameless entry, which means you can begin chatting with out creating an account.
Nonetheless, Lumo AI affords a extra full privacy-focused AI expertise with options like zero-access encryption, Tasks, reminiscence, and Proton Drive integration. Duck.ai takes a less complicated strategy by offering entry to a number of AI chat fashions by way of DuckDuckGo whereas anonymizing your requests and maintaining AI options non-compulsory.
For a light-weight AI chatbot with robust privateness protections, select Duck.ai. For a full AI assistant with deeper privateness options and extra superior workspace instruments, select Lumo AI.
Kagi
The subsequent Lumo AI different I’d suggest is Kagi. It’s a search engine centered on privateness that provides you an ad-free strategy to browse the online, together with AI instruments like Kagi Assistant that allow you to use completely different AI fashions with out monitoring your exercise.
Each platforms are nice for individuals who worth privateness and need extra management over their information. Nonetheless, they concentrate on completely different areas.
On the one hand, Lumo is a personal AI chat assistant designed for conversations, writing, analysis, and doc evaluation. The AI conversations are encrypted, and it comes with different options like non-public file evaluation, picture technology, Tasks for organizing work, and reminiscence for remembering preferences and particulars throughout chats when enabled.
In the meantime, Kagi focuses on making a cleaner, extra non-public search expertise. It stands out with its ad-free search, tracker blocking, and AI options that mix a number of language fashions with Kagi’s search outcomes.
For personal internet shopping, ad-free search, and discovering higher search outcomes with out monitoring, select Kagi. For an AI assistant that focuses on privateness and helps with writing, analysis, coding, and analyzing recordsdata, select Lumo AI.
Venice.ai
The ultimate Lumo AI different I’d suggest is Venice.ai. It’s an AI platform centered on privateness that allows you to chat, generate photographs and movies, write code, and create content material utilizing a variety of AI fashions. It additionally affords a number of privateness choices, together with nameless chats and end-to-end encrypted processing.
Each platforms put privateness first with AI writing, coding help, and internet search with out utilizing your conversations to coach AI fashions.
Nonetheless, Venice.ai stands out with its broader vary of AI capabilities, together with video and music technology, developer APIs, uncensored AI fashions, and extra superior choices for creators and builders. In the meantime, Lumo AI focuses on delivering a less complicated expertise with encrypted chats, Ghost Mode, Proton Drive integration, Tasks, and powerful protections backed by Swiss and European privateness legal guidelines.
For the widest AI mannequin choice, artistic instruments, and developer options whereas sustaining robust privateness, select Venice.ai. For an AI assistant with industry-leading privateness protections and seamless integration with the Proton ecosystem, select Lumo AI.
Lumo AI Overview: The Proper Device For You?
After spending time with Lumo AI, I got here away impressed by how severely Proton approaches privateness with out sacrificing usability. I favored how straightforward it was to prepare my analysis with Tasks, analyze paperwork, and use Ghost Mode for non permanent internet searches that disappeared as soon as I closed the session. Nonetheless, whereas Lumo was typically quick and correct, I nonetheless discovered myself verifying essential claims.
General, Lumo AI is greatest for individuals who need an AI assistant they will belief with delicate info. If privateness is your prime precedence, it’s one of many strongest choices out there.
However in the event you want essentially the most superior AI capabilities for advanced reasoning, coding, or artistic work, you might wish to think about certainly one of these alternate options:
- Duck.ai is greatest for individuals who desire a free, nameless AI chatbot with entry to a number of AI fashions and no account required.
- Kagi is greatest for individuals who desire a non-public, ad-free search engine with AI search and analysis instruments.
- Venice.ai is greatest for creators and builders who need superior AI fashions, picture and video technology, and versatile privateness controls.
Thanks for studying my Lumo AI overview! I hope you discovered it useful. Strive Lumo for your self (you don’t even want an account) and see the way you prefer it!
Incessantly Requested Questions
Is Lumo pretty much as good as ChatGPT?
Lumo is just not as highly effective as ChatGPT for advanced duties, however it affords a lot stronger privateness protections. It really works properly for on a regular basis writing and notes, although it might not match main AI fashions for superior reasoning or artistic duties.
Is Lumo AI actually non-public?
Sure, Lumo is designed to be way more non-public than most AI assistants. It makes use of encrypted chats, doesn’t acquire your information for promoting, and doesn’t use your conversations to coach AI fashions.
Who owns Lumo AI?
Lumo AI is made by Proton, the Swiss firm behind privateness companies like Proton Mail and Proton VPN.
Is Lumo a protected AI to make use of?
Sure, Lumo by Proton is a protected AI assistant centered on privateness. It makes use of zero-access encryption, doesn’t use your chats to coach AI fashions, and is protected by Swiss privateness legal guidelines.
Is Lumo any good?
Lumo AI is a good alternative if privateness is your foremost concern, however it might not be the most suitable choice in the event you want essentially the most superior AI capabilities from instruments like ChatGPT or Claude. Many individuals admire its robust safety features, however some really feel its efficiency nonetheless falls behind main AI assistants.
The place is Lumo AI from?
Lumo AI was created by Proton, the Swiss firm behind companies centered on privateness like Proton Mail and Proton VPN. It was constructed by Proton’s European machine studying workforce and launched in July 2025.
