Proton CEO cancels forced AI "re-interviews" after exposé; users call for resignation
404 Media · rss · 2026-10-31
After a 404 Media investigation, Proton CEO Andy Yen cancelled near-company-wide "re-interviews" that would have forced employees to justify their AI usage, with the implied threat of firing those deemed insufficient.
The investigation—based on 8 current and 1 former employees, Slack logs, meeting audio, and CTO Bart Butler's AI manifesto—depicted a company pushing AI aggressively for revenue despite security concerns. When an employee urged pentesting new code before shipping, Yen called it "bullshit and loser thinking" and told engineers to "stop lovingly handcrafting all our code." Butler's manifesto told engineers "your old job is gone."
Yen acknowledged a communication failure but said "I'm still going to push"; the re-interview criteria will fold into performance reviews, with org changes next month but "no loss of jobs from AI." Employees were split, many calling it damage control. Yen's Reddit response was downvoted 1,200+ times, and numerous paid users are cancelling plans, some demanding Yen resign.
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