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Proton CEO calls software testing loser thinking

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Alphabet shares fell about 13% Thursday after its Q3 earnings miss, putting the stock on track for its steepest one-day drop on record, and dragged Nasdaq futures lower. The miss included weaker-than-expected Search revenue and negative free cash flow. Promotional post about a prediction-market platform; no factual claim to check.

404 Media reports it viewed internal messages in which Proton CEO Andy Yen told staff to “stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more,” and called it “loser thinking” when an employee urged testing before launch.

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Alphabet shares fell about 13% Thursday after its Q3 earnings miss, putting the stock on track for its steepest one-day drop on record, and dragged Nasdaq futures lower. The miss included weaker-than-expected Search revenue and negative free cash flow. Promotional post about a prediction-market platform; no factual claim to check.

Alphabet drags on Nasdaq futures as the stock faces a record post-earnings loss https://t.co/a8dmIOBmld

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404 Media reports it viewed internal messages in which Proton CEO Andy Yen told staff to “stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more,” and called it “loser thinking” when an employee urged testing before launch.

SCOOP: Proton CEO Andy Yen to his staff: “Stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more.” 404 Media saw these internal messages, in which he also said it was "loser thinking" to an employee who urged the company to at least take a few days to test newly written code bef

Original post · 404 Media (@404media.co)

[404media.co](https://www.404media.co) NAMES: Proton = Swiss privacy-tech company behind Proton Mail/VPN/Drive; Andy Yen = Proton's CEO.

Sources

What the hosts said

SA privacy company CEO just told his engineers to stop testing their code. I wish I were joking.
EProton. The Swiss company people pay for encrypted email and a VPN.
S404 Media got the internal messages. Andy Yen told staff — exact words — 'stop lovingly handcrafting all our code and use AI more.'
EAnd when one engineer pushed back, said maybe give new code a few days to test before launch?
SYen's response, also exact words: 'loser thinking.'
EI'm sorry — a company whose entire brand is 'nobody can read your stuff' is telling developers not to verify what they ship?
SThat's the contradiction. You sell trust, then tell your team testing is for losers.
EAnd trust dies once. One leak, one exposed key, and why would anyone pay Proton again?
SHere's where I understand him, though. The market is rewarding speed right now. AI is eating software.
ENo, no — there's a huge difference between using AI to draft boilerplate and calling testing 'loser thinking.'
SI'm not defending that word. It's a terrible thing to say to an engineer.
EThen what's your argument? That he's right to push AI?
SMy argument is Proton's a small company. If they don't ship faster, much bigger companies eat their lunch.
EAnd speed without checks at a big company just means bugs reach more people, faster.
SAll right, the speed argument has some teeth. But you also can't win by handcrafting code while AI writes it in seconds.
EI'm not saying handcraft everything. I'm saying a privacy company can't skip the step that catches leaks.
SThen pick your spots. Ship the marketing page fast. Verify anything touching encryption.
EExactly. That's a sane policy. 'All code, no testing' is not.
SAnd when the CEO says it to the whole company in writing? That culture problem just became a product problem.
ELook — I use AI to write code. It's faster for the boring stuff, and I still read what it wrote before it goes live.
SBecause you've been burned. Shipping a bug that takes down production teaches you fast.
ERight. And Yen's telling his team to skip that lesson. To a person asking for a few days of testing, no less.
SAnd this wasn't a leaked direct message. 404 Media reviewed the messages and published them.
EA company that prides itself on privacy getting its internal chat aired out. The irony writes itself.
SIt's also a reminder that 'move fast' works different when your product is security.
EYeah. A social app ships a bug, people see a weird emoji. A privacy app ships a bug, people see each other's email.
SQuick palate cleanser after all that. The internet invented a new abbreviation today.
ELet me guess: it's about reading AI summaries.
SAI, didn't read. The new too-long-didn't-read, for when an AI digest gets it wrong.
EAI didn't read. Honestly, that's probably what the AI was thinking about your code too.

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