Proton publishes the AI memo that told engineers "your old job is gone"
Proton's CTO publishes in full his internal AI manifesto, including the goal that most human code review will end. Binance reports $3.64 billion of net outflows in the first hours after reopening withdrawals, and Aramco completes its acquisition of 49% of Saudi AI company Humain, in a deal involving about $2.6 billion in cash contributions.
- Proton CTO Bart Butler published the internal AI manifesto 404 Media cited in last week’s investigation; it sets the goal that “most human code review will end” and adds no rules on security or how AI tools handle data.
- Binance says $3.64 billion left in net terms in the 9.5 hours after it reopened withdrawals, 2.1% of the $171 billion in its 28 October proof of reserves; on Sunday morning 531 of 552 coins were still suspended.
- Aramco completed its acquisition of a 49% stake in Humain, the Public Investment Fund’s AI company, in a deal involving about SR9.9 billion ($2.6 billion) in cash contributions plus Aramco’s own AI and compute assets; PIF keeps 51%.
- OpenAI plans a PR push after Tuesday’s US midterms, including AI “speed limits” and possibly calling data centres “AI compute campuses”, according to Axios.
- A guest essay on Terence Tao’s blog says OpenAI’s 700-plus maths papers changed the field, and tells mathematicians to treat all work as AI-assisted.
Proton’s CTO publishes his AI manifesto
Proton CTO Bart Butler published his internal “AI @ Proton, Engineering Manifesto” in full on 1 November, as an opinion post with a PDF. He says he wrote it “about a month ago”. 404 Media’s 29 October investigation said it reviewed “an AI manifesto written by the company’s CTO”; this appears to be that document, and it contains lines our report attributed to 404 Media. “Your old job is gone.” Being left behind on AI is “an existential threat to the success of the mission itself”. Engineers’ “direct reports are the models and agents you use”. And on the review process: “we need to and will get to a point where most human code review will end.” Butler says the memo “does not delve into the specifics of security, reliability, or infrastructure”. It names no tools or models and sets no rules on what code or data AI tools may see.
Why it matters
Proton Mail users wanted to know if human review of the code that guards their mail would last. The memo sets a goal, with no date, of ending most of it. That sits awkwardly with CEO Andy Yen’s Reddit reply last week, which described the present: “We still have human review, but now augmented by AI”. Our Proton report explains what this means for encrypted data and how to export.
Openness isn’t the same as reassurance
Publishing the memo is honest, and it appears to back up 404 Media’s reporting. But the questions users raised were about security process and pentesting, and this memo explicitly doesn’t answer them. The reorganisation Yen promised staff for November, as 404 Media reported, is the next place to look.
Binance sees $3.64 billion leave after reopening
Binance had $3.64 billion in net outflows in the first 9.5 hours after it resumed withdrawals on Sunday, it said on X, The Block reports. That was $4.65 billion out and $1.01 billion in, between 1:00 and 10:30 a.m. ET. Binance put it at 2.1% of its $171 billion in assets, using its 28 October proof of reserves, and said withdrawals were “stabilising as expected”. DefiLlama counted $4.05 billion of net outflows over 24 hours. At 11:22 a.m. ET, 531 of 552 coins were still suspended and 14 partly restored, including bitcoin and ether. Binance says an updated proof-of-reserves report, from a 31 October snapshot, is due Monday.
Why it matters
If you have funds on Binance, most assets still can’t be withdrawn. Monday’s reserves report is the first public check on its claims about covering the roughly $6.3 billion stolen.
No bank run yet
In our view, outflows of about 2% after a theft this size look like nervousness, not panic. The next 10 largest exchanges DefiLlama tracks had about $368 million of combined net inflows, led by OKX. The real test is once all 552 coins reopen.
Aramco closes its 49% Humain deal
Saudi Aramco completed its acquisition of a 49% stake in Humain, the AI company owned by the Public Investment Fund, PIF and Aramco said in a joint statement on 1 November, Arab News reports. The deal involves about SR9.9 billion ($2.6 billion) in cash contributions during 2026, and Aramco moves its own AI, computing and digital assets into Humain; PIF keeps 51%. The two signed a non-binding term sheet in October 2025. Humain, launched in May 2025, builds data centres and cloud platforms, develops the Arabic model ALLaM and targets 3 GW of AI data-centre capacity by 2030.
Why it matters
Humain now has the kingdom’s oil company as a co-owner and strategic partner. Aramco expects to use Humain’s infrastructure to deploy AI across its industrial operations.
One state AI champion, two state backers
Our read: the deal puts the two biggest Saudi state players behind one AI company. On 21 October Humain and DataVolt agreed a preliminary framework for Nebius to take up to 50 MW in NEOM. Humain is likely to keep partnering with foreign clouds while building its own capacity. The statement doesn’t value the assets Aramco contributes, so Humain’s implied valuation is unknown.
Quick hits
- OpenAI plans a PR push after the midterms, chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane told Axios: AI “speed limits”, global standards, and possibly calling data centres “AI compute campuses”. No details on the speed limits yet.
- Frank Calegari’s guest essay on Terence Tao’s blog calls OpenAI’s 6 October release of over 700 research papers “a watershed in the history of mathematics”, and asks mathematicians to judge all work as AI-assisted and make hiring more about in-person interaction.