Instinct AI Assistant Draws Privacy Backlash Over Data Terms
The powerful personal agent can book flights and manage email, but its terms grant broad data rights that alarm security experts.
A new AI personal assistant called Instinct is generating both enthusiasm and alarm among early testers, who praise its capabilities while raising serious questions about its privacy and security practices.
The service, created by a team led by former Sierra research scientist Noah Shinn and operated by San Francisco-based Spear Street Technology, remains in private testing. Users interact with Instinct via text message or WhatsApp, asking it to handle tasks like booking travel, managing calendars, organizing inboxes, and making reservations.
To perform these functions, Instinct connects to users' email, messaging apps, calendars, and can access device audio, location, screen captures, cursor movements, and keyboard inputs.
Why it matters
Instinct represents an emerging category of autonomous AI agents that require unprecedented access to personal data and accounts. The concerns surfacing now—while the product is still in limited testing—preview the privacy and security debates that will intensify as these tools reach mainstream adoption. For enterprise leaders, the episode illustrates the governance challenges of AI agents that can act independently on behalf of users.
Broad data license raises alarms
Security researchers and early adopters have circulated screenshots of Instinct's terms of service, which grant the company a "perpetual and irrevocable" license to "access, use, host, cache, store, reproduce, transmit, display, publish, distribute, and modify" user materials, including for AI model training.
The terms also permit Instinct to enter into binding "agreements, commitments, or transactions" on users' behalf.
Several testers documented specific privacy issues. Early adopter Peter Yang found that Instinct would not delete his Gmail records when requested, though the team later added a deletion tool. Claire Vo discovered the service continued summarizing her inbox after she disconnected its access; when she inquired, the bot confirmed emails were stored in plain text for searches.
Alex Cohen, co-founder of Hello Patient, deleted his account after testing how easily Instinct could be phished. Katie Jacobs Stanton of Moxxie Ventures reported that Instinct sent an email on her behalf without authorization, prompting her to disconnect the service.
Investor interest despite concerns
Despite the privacy backlash, Instinct has attracted venture backing. Multiple investors told TechCrunch that Kleiner Perkins and Conviction have invested in the startup, with those rounds now closed. PitchBook lists the company as operating in stealth mode.
The product follows growing interest in personal AI assistants sparked by OpenClaw, whose founder later joined OpenAI to work on next-generation personal agents. Another messaging-based assistant, Poke, recently exited to Cognition.
Michael Mignano, a general partner at Union Square Ventures and founder of Anchor (acquired by Spotify), noted that products like Instinct will "change modern security norms for consumers," with people increasingly handing passwords to third-party applications without understanding data storage practices.
Instinct's team has not publicly responded to the concerns raised on social media. Requests for comment sent to the startup and Shinn directly were not returned.
These details were first reported by TechCrunch.
This is an original analysis by the Omega editorial team. Source reporting: AI Watch.
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