via TechCrunch AI
Lumo, Proton’s Privacy-Focused AI Chatbot, Gets a Major Upgrade with Image Recognition and Persistent Memory
Proton, the privacy-focused productivity app company known for its encrypted email and cloud services, launched its public AI chatbot, Lumo, last year. As of early 2026, the chatbot has received a significant upgrade, positioning itself as a stronger competitor in the privacy-oriented AI landscape.
Lumo 2.0 introduces a range of new capabilities, including image recognition and generation. Users can now upload pictures to Lumo for analysis or editing, and the chatbot can generate imagery based on user prompts—similar to leading multimodal models. This move aligns with the broader trend in 2026 where AI assistants are expected to handle both text and visual inputs seamlessly.
The update also expands Lumo’s functionality within Projects, a widget that integrates with Proton’s suite of tools like email and cloud storage. Projects now feature user-controlled persistent memory, allowing Lumo to recall user preferences across different conversational sessions. This enhancement makes the assistant more personalized over time without sacrificing user control.
Performance-wise, Lumo 2.0 is significantly faster and more powerful. Proton reports that the new version responds to most queries up to 76 percent quicker than its predecessor. A new “thinking mode” enables the chatbot to tackle more complex problems or multi-step questions, reflecting the industry’s move toward deeper reasoning in AI systems in 2026.
“Lumo 2.0 has been re-engineered from the ground up, and the introduction of thinking mode gives it powerful new capabilities,” said Andy Yen, Founder and CEO of Proton. “Lumo 2.0 demonstrates that users no longer need to choose between powerful AI capabilities and meaningful privacy protections.”
In terms of general utility, the public version of Lumo is now roughly on par with major competitors like Gemini and ChatGPT, providing similar answer formats, detail, and context. However, Proton differentiates Lumo by its privacy-first architecture. It uses zero-access encryption, meaning user data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, with only the user able to access it. Proton also claims no server-side logging of sessions is retained, ensuring that no one at the company can view conversation contents. Furthermore, the company pledges never to use customer data for AI training or share it with third parties. In 2026, as data privacy regulations tighten globally, this approach becomes increasingly appealing.
Lumo 2.0 is available immediately. In addition to the free version, Proton offers paid tiers (Plus and Professional) that provide significantly more access and resources for heavy users.