6 ms·

Proton Mail Adds an Open-Source AI Writing Assistant to Take on Gmail

64 points by elashri 2y ago

obelus 2y ago
Related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994602 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994602
jamil7 2y ago
Where's the source code? The article links to their Github but I don't see it there.
dwighttk 2y ago
Gross
- kylebenzle 2y ago
  Agree. I personally will not be reading any email that looks ai generated. Maybe that will be the new "spam box", ANOTHER inbox for AI generated emails.
  - snowfield 2y ago
    I think it has it's use, for certain tasks. I use the "ai" feature in outlook a bit. Just click the "Thanks! I got it" button or whatever pops up as a reply. Saves me some time and gives the sender a concice confirm. I also wouldn't mind if some people got a bit of help with proofreading shit they send out. Translation is also a nice one, if it's built in why not.
mcpar-land 2y ago
https://mrgan.com/ai-email-from-a-friend/ https://mrgan.com/ai-email-from-a-friend/
ssklash 2y ago
I'm torn on this. Personally, I feel like this is totally unnecessary, and reminds me of Mozilla doing all sorts of random stuff and ignoring their core competency of browsers. But on the other hand, this seems like an attempt to make Proton Mail more competitive with Gmail, reduce feature disparity, and encourage adoption, which is great!
- WithinReason 2y ago
  According to their survey this was the 2nd most requested feature: https://proton.me/blog/2024-proton-survey-results https://proton.me/blog/2024-proton-survey-results
  - egberts1 2y ago
    I was going to downvote this, but am shocked at this relevation so I'm a gonna let this stand since a good citation was given.
  - dadie 2y ago
    Thank you for the link. This sadly makes me consider switch to another email provider. I think it is great that they listen to their customers, it really is, but it makes me think that what I value in an email provider seems to be different from what the average (or at least questioned) customer values. The words privacy and ai are in my mind almost irreconcilable. I wish them all the luck in the world and hope their other customers stay happy, but it seems they will have to lose me. Which is fine. I think they do what is best for proton, it is just that proton might be no longer what is best for me. I just keep wondering if companies know that while lacking a certain feature may cost them customers, having it may do so as well.
    - sandworm101 2y ago
      >> The words privacy and ai are in my mind almost irreconcilable. You can run many AI system on user machines. Some versions of stable diffusion can run on laptops. They can be run privately, even on air-gapped machines if necessary.
      - egberts1 2y ago
        But not Proton and Scribe's AI: it trains locally and send the combined gradient update to a central server,
        2y ago
egberts1 2y ago
I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole given how dastardly the ChatGPT could track the usage within a privacy-oriented application if I wanted my privacy intact. Then again, it's a WEB app!
- turblety 2y ago
  Why? It's a local model that runs on the device. How could ChatGPT see anything to do with it?
  - egberts1 2y ago
    It trains locally and send the combined gradient update to a central server.
    - WithinReason 2y ago
      No it doesn't: "By default, all the processing happens locally, on the user's device, with no sensitive information being sent over to Proton, not even for training the AI models being used thanks to Proton's zero-access encryption tech."
      - egberts1 2y ago
        Wireshark it.
        skeaker 2y ago
        Looks good to me.
ChrisArchitect 2y ago
[dupe] Official post: https://proton.me/blog/proton-scribe-writing-assistant https://proton.me/blog/proton-scribe-writing-assistant (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994602 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994602)
bastien2 2y ago
Oh come on, Proton, you're supposed to be better than this. Chatbots are proven privacy-violation engines. If you're going to act like Google, there's zero reason to pay for your services.
- iowemoretohim 2y ago
  This is not a chatbot and is in no way similar to what Google does. It's opt-in, open source, runs on device, does not use your emails to train the model, and most important of all does not grant Proton access to your emails. What part of that do you see as a privacy violation?
obelus 2y ago
Sharing a summary posted on Mastodon: - is opt-in. You must actively choose to use this feature - is open-source - uses an open-source model - does not use your data to train the model - doesn't break existing zero-access-encryption - runs locally on supported devices - can be run on a Proton-provided no-log server if you choose to From my understanding Scribe doesn't do anything unless you enter a prompt. And before that you have still have to choose between local or server side before you can even use it. There's also a toggle to remove it from the UI.
butz 2y ago
Not only this is a feature that I, as paying Proton Mail user do not need, but having it as a premium option will probably end up pestering me in every possible way: emails, UI elements, popups, etc., to upgrade to feature I absolutely detest. I tried to get away from Google and their nonsense, but actually ended up in the same place. Are there any decent email only providers left, without "AI" and load of unnecessary apps that they keep purchasing each week? And still, no Proton Drive for Linux.

64 points by elashri 2y ago

obelus 2y ago

Related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994602 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994602

jamil7 2y ago

Where's the source code? The article links to their Github but I don't see it there.

dwighttk 2y ago

Gross

kylebenzle 2y ago
Agree. I personally will not be reading any email that looks ai generated. Maybe that will be the new "spam box", ANOTHER inbox for AI generated emails.
- snowfield 2y ago
  I think it has it's use, for certain tasks. I use the "ai" feature in outlook a bit. Just click the "Thanks! I got it" button or whatever pops up as a reply. Saves me some time and gives the sender a concice confirm. I also wouldn't mind if some people got a bit of help with proofreading shit they send out. Translation is also a nice one, if it's built in why not.

mcpar-land 2y ago

https://mrgan.com/ai-email-from-a-friend/ https://mrgan.com/ai-email-from-a-friend/

ssklash 2y ago

I'm torn on this. Personally, I feel like this is totally unnecessary, and reminds me of Mozilla doing all sorts of random stuff and ignoring their core competency of browsers. But on the other hand, this seems like an attempt to make Proton Mail more competitive with Gmail, reduce feature disparity, and encourage adoption, which is great!

WithinReason 2y ago
According to their survey this was the 2nd most requested feature: https://proton.me/blog/2024-proton-survey-results https://proton.me/blog/2024-proton-survey-results
- egberts1 2y ago
  I was going to downvote this, but am shocked at this relevation so I'm a gonna let this stand since a good citation was given.
- dadie 2y ago
  Thank you for the link. This sadly makes me consider switch to another email provider. I think it is great that they listen to their customers, it really is, but it makes me think that what I value in an email provider seems to be different from what the average (or at least questioned) customer values. The words privacy and ai are in my mind almost irreconcilable. I wish them all the luck in the world and hope their other customers stay happy, but it seems they will have to lose me. Which is fine. I think they do what is best for proton, it is just that proton might be no longer what is best for me. I just keep wondering if companies know that while lacking a certain feature may cost them customers, having it may do so as well.
  - sandworm101 2y ago
    >> The words privacy and ai are in my mind almost irreconcilable. You can run many AI system on user machines. Some versions of stable diffusion can run on laptops. They can be run privately, even on air-gapped machines if necessary.
    - egberts1 2y ago
      But not Proton and Scribe's AI: it trains locally and send the combined gradient update to a central server,
      - 2y ago

egberts1 2y ago

I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole given how dastardly the ChatGPT could track the usage within a privacy-oriented application if I wanted my privacy intact. Then again, it's a WEB app!

turblety 2y ago
Why? It's a local model that runs on the device. How could ChatGPT see anything to do with it?
- egberts1 2y ago
  It trains locally and send the combined gradient update to a central server.
  - WithinReason 2y ago
    No it doesn't: "By default, all the processing happens locally, on the user's device, with no sensitive information being sent over to Proton, not even for training the AI models being used thanks to Proton's zero-access encryption tech."
    - egberts1 2y ago
      Wireshark it.
      - skeaker 2y ago
        Looks good to me.

ChrisArchitect 2y ago

[dupe] Official post: https://proton.me/blog/proton-scribe-writing-assistant https://proton.me/blog/proton-scribe-writing-assistant (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994602 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40994602)

bastien2 2y ago

Oh come on, Proton, you're supposed to be better than this. Chatbots are proven privacy-violation engines. If you're going to act like Google, there's zero reason to pay for your services.

iowemoretohim 2y ago
This is not a chatbot and is in no way similar to what Google does. It's opt-in, open source, runs on device, does not use your emails to train the model, and most important of all does not grant Proton access to your emails. What part of that do you see as a privacy violation?

obelus 2y ago

Sharing a summary posted on Mastodon: - is opt-in. You must actively choose to use this feature - is open-source - uses an open-source model - does not use your data to train the model - doesn't break existing zero-access-encryption - runs locally on supported devices - can be run on a Proton-provided no-log server if you choose to From my understanding Scribe doesn't do anything unless you enter a prompt. And before that you have still have to choose between local or server side before you can even use it. There's also a toggle to remove it from the UI.

butz 2y ago

Not only this is a feature that I, as paying Proton Mail user do not need, but having it as a premium option will probably end up pestering me in every possible way: emails, UI elements, popups, etc., to upgrade to feature I absolutely detest. I tried to get away from Google and their nonsense, but actually ended up in the same place. Are there any decent email only providers left, without "AI" and load of unnecessary apps that they keep purchasing each week? And still, no Proton Drive for Linux.