The Swiss company aims to match the big tech players without compromising user privacy.
The Swiss application developer Proton has introduced an AI-powered email drafting assistant focused on privacy, offering a safer alternative to similar solutions from Google and Microsoft.
Proton Scribe: Privacy-Focused Email Assistant
Proton Scribe, integrated into Proton Mail, allows users to draft emails with simple prompts. This large language model (LLM) can also review drafts before sending them.
To use this feature, simply draft an email in Proton Mail and click on the pencil icon at the bottom of the text box. Tell the tool what you want to say, and it will create a draft for you.
You can then use the Shorten and Correct options if you want to improve the text. There is also an option to make the email tone more formal. You can review and edit your drafts before sending them.
Privacy as a Priority
Like all Proton products, Scribe is designed with data privacy in mind. According to the company, the assistant does not train on your inbox data due to Proton Mail’s zero-access encryption approach. Once you finish drafting your emails, Proton states that nothing you have written is logged or saved.
Proton claims that Scribe is the first AI tool for the mass market that can run entirely locally, ensuring no data leaves the device. The program can be downloaded on MacOS, Windows, and Linux devices.
However, Proton Scribe requires an initial 4GB download on the device and at least 8GB of RAM to function. For those without this computing power, there is an option to use Scribe on Proton’s servers, although this means data will leave the device. Proton assures that no data is logged regardless of where it is hosted.
The email drafting assistant operates with open-source models and code, allowing independent researchers to audit its privacy and security, according to the company. Scribe is built on Mistral 7B, an open-source language model from the French AI startup Mistral, reports TechCrunch.
Similar to Google, but Different
Proton’s AI writing assistant arrives just weeks after the launch of Proton Docs, a privacy-focused alternative to Google Docs. Proton Scribe also follows Google’s announcement to integrate its Gemini chatbot into Gmail for tasks like drafting emails.
Proton Docs and Proton Mail significantly contrast with Google’s offerings, which are not end-to-end encrypted. Google retains access to all its emails and documents and uses them for targeted advertising.
This week, a Google Docs user even claimed that Google Gemini had accessed and edited their private document without permission.
Proton Scribe is primarily aimed at businesses that want to keep their communications private. According to a Proton survey, more than 75% of the company’s business users are interested in generative AI tools, but most are also concerned about the lack of data protection.
The Swiss company’s motto seems to be: “I can do everything Google can do, but without stealing your data.”
The downside is that, since it does not train on your personal data, Scribe is naturally less personalized. The emails it drafts may be quite generic. Therefore, the company has added functions that allow you to change the tone and edit and correct before sending.
Those with a Proton Business plan can try Proton Scribe for free for 14 days. After that, the tool costs $3 per month per user.
By: Nestor Castillo, ForAllTechNews Director
Image: CC BY-SA 3.0 / Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported