Proton's chief cancels AI "re-interviews" after staff pushback

Proton chief executive Andy Yen canceled a plan for nearly company-wide "re-interviews" in which employees would have had to explain how they use AI, 404 Media reported on Friday, citing six employees and audio of a two-hour all-hands meeting. Staff understood that people judged to be using AI too little could be fired. The cancellation followed 404 Media's reporting on Yen's AI push and on employees' security concerns, at a company that sells privacy. Yen called the plan "a communication failure on my part," according to AI Weekly's summary. "Stop thinking always of how to be slower, and focus more on how to be faster," he had written in Slack.

A survey by CNBC and SHL last week found close to one in five US and UK workers say they were replaced by AI and later asked to come back. SourcesBB

Sources

• BProton's CEO cancels AI re-interviews (404 Media)404media.co
• BWorkers replaced by AI are being asked back (CNBC, not opened)cnbc.com

This story ran in the Morning Brief of November 2nd 2026.