Proton’s Privacy-Focused Lumo Chatbot Gets Image Generation

Almost a year after its launch, Proton has released its biggest update to the Lumo chatbot. Lumo version 2.0 now comes with image recognition and generation, which finally makes it a legitimate competitor to ChatGPT and Gemini. Proton says the updated chatbot has the ability to generate images as well as analyze and edit them. Conversations involving images are still protected by zero-access encryption like all chats on Loomo, meaning they can only be accessed on your device. The company says they cannot be accessed by third parties or even Proton.

Apart from image generation, the new Lumo also has a thinking mode for reasoning. Proton says the Lumo 2.0 Lite scored 127 percent higher than the Lumo 1.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index benchmark, while the Lumo 2.0 Max scored 240 percent higher. Benchmarks measure the capabilities of a model across multiple tasks. The updated Lumo has deep context, giving it the ability to search deeper for relevant background information and provide you with more accurate feedback. Additionally, it can now present the latest information and source citations in its responses.

Lumo 2.0 is now available for use. Its core AI capabilities are free, but you’ll have to pay $10 per month for Lumo Plus for unlimited chat, advanced image creation, and access to Proton’s more advanced models.

“Lomo 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. “User testing demonstrates that the gap has narrowed to such an extent that in many use cases, users can no longer notice a qualitative difference between Lumo 2.0 Max and the latest models from OpenAI and Anthropic. Lumo 2.0 demonstrates that users no longer need to choose between powerful AI capabilities and meaningful privacy protections.”