Proton has rolled out its biggest update yet for the Lumo chatbot, almost a year after it launched. Lumo version 2.0 now comes with image recognition and generation, finally making it a legitimate competitor to ChatGPT and Gemini. Proton says the updated chatbot has the capability to generate images, as well as to analyze and edit them. Conversations involving images are still protected by zero-access encryption like all chats on Lumo, which means they can only be accessed on your device. The company says they can’t be accessed by third-parties or even Proton itself.  

In addition to image generation, the new Lumo also has a thinking mode for reasoning. Proton says Lumo 2.0 Lite scored 127 percent higher than Lumo 1.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index benchmark, while Lumo 2.0 Max scored 240 percent higher. The benchmark measures a model’s capabilities across multiple tasks. The updated Lumo has deeper context, giving it the capability to dig deeper for relevant background information and provide you with more accurate responses. Plus, it can now surface the latest information and source citations in its responses.  

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

“Lumo 2.0 has been re-engineered from the ground up and the introduction of thinking mode gives it powerful new capabilities,” said Proton founder and CEO Andy Yen. “User testing demonstrates that the gap has closed to the point that for many use cases, users can no longer perceive a qualitative difference between Lumo 2.0 Max and the latest models from OpenAI and Anthrophic. Lumo 2.0 demonstrates that users no longer need to choose between powerful AI capabilities and meaningful privacy protections.”