Instinct’s powerful AI assistant is raising privacy and security concerns

Everyone is buzzing about Instinct, an AI personal assistant still in private access, not only for its incredible capabilities, but also for its potential privacy concerns. The agent, a veritable taskmaster, has been praised as feeling “like magic” and being one of the “most exciting launches” since OpenClaw. However, some testers have also raised concerns about the AI agent’s security model and its worrisome terms of service.

To be fair, Instinct is still in private testing for now, so these concerns haven’t yet scaled to the wider public at this time.

Created by a small team led by former Sierra research scientist Noah Shinn, San Francisco-based Instinct is operated by Spear Street Technology, per its terms and California business filings. It’s currently operating in stealth, per PitchBook.

The AI agent itself works by connecting to your applications and devices, including your email, messaging apps, calendar, and your device’s audio, location, screen, and more. You can text the agent or call it via text message or WhatsApp, asking it to perform various tasks for you, like booking your appointments and reservations, scheduling a ride to the airport, cleaning up your inbox, organizing important information, handling your shopping, finding you cheap flights, and much more.