Private AI chatbots in a ChatGPT world
A private AI chatbot is an assistant built on large language models that can answer questions, generate content and automate tasks while refusing to train on your conversations, storing as little data as possible, and giving you clear controls over what is remembered or deleted, to reduce the chance that your personal or business information leaks into broader AI training pipelines or human review. In practice, that means trade‑offs between convenience and strict data privacy. Proton Lumo 2.0 and Boba AI both aim to be a serious ChatGPT alternative for users who care about data privacy AI, but they solve different problems. Lumo 2.0 focuses on secure general‑purpose AI with EU‑style protections and feature parity with mainstream models, while Boba AI is a banking assistant that uses agentic capabilities to complete real transactions for you. If you want a safer everyday AI copilot, pick Lumo; if you want a task‑doing finance bot inside one app, pick Boba.
| Spec | Proton Lumo 2.0 | Boba AI |
|---|---|---|
| Core role | Privacy-first general AI chatbot and ChatGPT alternative, text and image support | Agentic AI chatbot for everyday banking tasks in Boost apps |
| Pricing tiers | Lumo Plus at USD 9.99 (approx. RM46) per month; Professional plans start at USD 11.99 (approx. RM55) per month. A separate Pro tier is available at USD 12.99 (approx. RM60) per month. | Pricing not specified; access provided inside Boost and Boost Bank apps and via Boba Voice line |
| Training on user chats | Company states chats are never used to train underlying models | Not stated; described as customer service and task automation bot |
| Key privacy controls | Zero‑access encryption for stored chats and open‑source models; operates under strict European‑style privacy laws | No detailed privacy controls described; focused on convenience and task completion in financial context |
| Multimodal abilities | Supports text, image input and image generation in encrypted conversations | Supports text and voice via 24‑hour Boba Voice line but no image features mentioned |
| Agentic task automation | Projects, memory and personas help manage documents and workflows, but not tied to real‑world account actions | Can open accounts, register for eKYC, pay bills and resolve account queries directly through conversation |
| Deep reasoning modes | Fast mode for quick replies and reasoning mode for multi‑step answers, with improved benchmarks over version 1.4 | No explicit deep‑reasoning mode; focused on resolving support and banking actions |
| Deployment focus | Consumers and enterprises wanting private AI that does not expose proprietary data to third‑party training | Bank customers and internal staff using a centralised platform for operational tasks |
Proton Lumo 2.0: a privacy-first ChatGPT alternative
Proton Lumo 2.0 is designed as a privacy‑first AI chatbot that can cover most of what mainstream assistants do—answering questions, searching the web, generating text and images, and analysing uploaded files. It now includes image generation and deep reasoning features that its first version lacked, putting it much closer to tools like ChatGPT for everyday use. Proton stresses that Lumo is never trained on user data, and chats are protected with zero‑access encryption so even the operator cannot read them. You also control how much long‑term memory the bot keeps and can create secure projects to store files and instructions for work tasks. "Available for USD 9.99 (approx. RM46) per month, Lumo Plus offers unlimited daily chats and history, web search, large‑file analysis and advanced models". For teams, plans start at USD 11.99 (approx. RM55) per month, with a separate Pro tier at USD 12.99 (approx. RM60) per month.
Boba AI: agentic banking assistant with real task automation
Boba AI is a different kind of private AI chatbot: it lives inside the Boost and Boost Bank apps and is built to do real work with your accounts, not just chat. Recent upgrades added agentic AI features, meaning Boba AI can understand requests and carry out multi‑step tasks like opening accounts, registering you for eKYC, paying bills and resolving common queries, all through a single conversation. There is also Boba Voice, a 24‑hour phone line where the AI can respond to voice commands without waiting for a human agent. Over 30,000 customers have already used Boba AI for nearly 100,000 requests, showing it is becoming a core part of everyday banking in the app ecosystem. Boost even ties in rewards: complete certain missions using Boba AI and you can earn more than 1,000 Boost Stars to redeem for vouchers and bill payments. If you want practical automation more than open‑ended creativity, Boba AI is made for you.
Privacy, limitations and where ChatGPT still fits
Both Proton Lumo 2.0 and Boba AI aim to improve data privacy AI, but in different ways and with some caveats. Lumo’s standout promise is that your chats do not feed training and are stored with zero‑access encryption. There is also no human review of conversations, unlike some mainstream bots that inspect chats to "help improve" services. However, like other assistants built on large language models, Lumo cannot offer full end‑to‑end encryption, and the privacy you get still depends on whether you keep or wipe your history. Boba AI’s privacy posture is less explicit: the focus is on convenience, automating finance tasks and using AI internally on a central platform for employees. That makes it powerful but also means you must trust how the bank handles account and identity data behind the scenes. Compared with ChatGPT, these tools are better suited to sensitive information, but ChatGPT still wins for broad ecosystem integrations and third‑party plugins if privacy is not your top concern.
Buy if / Skip if
- Buy the Proton Lumo 2.0 if you want a general-purpose private AI chatbot and ChatGPT alternative that never trains on your data and gives you EU-style privacy controls for both personal and enterprise use.
- Skip the Proton Lumo 2.0 if full end-to-end encryption is non‑negotiable for you, as it shares that limitation with other LLM-based tools.
- Buy the Proton Lumo 2.0 if your team needs to analyse documents, use web search and image generation, and maintain secure projects and contextual memory without exposing proprietary data to third‑party training pipelines.
- Skip the Proton Lumo 2.0 if you prefer a chatbot that trades stricter privacy for the widest range of plugins and consumer integrations, which mainstream options like ChatGPT currently offer.
- Buy the Boba AI if you want an AI assistant that can open accounts, handle eKYC registration, pay bills and resolve app-related queries using agentic, multi-step task automation.
- Skip the Boba AI if you’re looking for a standalone creative writing or coding assistant rather than a finance-focused chatbot embedded inside specific apps.
- Buy the Boba AI if your priority is reducing wait times for support with a 24-hour AI voice line that can respond to spoken requests and replace many human-agent interactions.
- Skip the Boba AI if you are uncomfortable with an AI having operational control over your financial tasks and would rather keep such actions manual, even if they take longer.
