What is Instinct? The invite-only AI assistant you text, explained

Instinct is a personal AI assistant that you text or call instead of opening an app. You ask it to book a train, order groceries, send flowers or cancel a subscription, and it uses a phone and a computer the way you would to get it done. It’s made by a San Francisco startup founded by Noah Shinn, it’s free for now, and it’s invite-only: you need an invite from an existing user or a spot off the waitlist.

If you searched “Instinct AI” for something else, you may want AMD Instinct, a line of data-center chips, which is unrelated.

What Instinct does

Instinct’s homepage sums up the idea: “there are no new interfaces. You can text or call it” (instinct.com). Invited users reach it through messaging apps they already use, WhatsApp and iMessage (Digit). There’s no app to download and no channel open to the public yet.

What it’s used for:

• Travel. Bookings make up about half of the money transacted through Instinct, according to Shinn (Fortune).
• Errands. Groceries, flowers, finding a court (instinct.com).
• Admin. Cancelling subscriptions and other tasks that usually mean a long wait on hold.
• Group plans. Since October, early-access users can add Instinct to a group chat, and friends without an account can use it there too (TechCrunch).

It also remembers what you tell it, and it can make phone calls.

Why everyone is talking about Instinct

Instinct got famous without advertising. Shinn told Fortune the company had spent “$0 on marketing so far”. Instead:

• Scarce invites. Each user got five invites in the August beta, and invites were reportedly resold online. Scarcity made people want in.
• Huge funding at a young age. Shinn is 23. Instinct raised $250 million in August, then a $1 billion round at a $10 billion valuation in late September (Fortune).
• A fight with Meta. When Meta launched Muse, a direct rival, in September, Meta’s AI chief Alexandr Wang publicly mocked Instinct as “Insect” (Fortune). The press has framed the two as rivals ever since.
• Controversy. In August, users objected to terms that gave the company a “perpetual and irrevocable” license to their materials. The terms were rewritten on August 26.
• Outages. On November 2, Instinct stopped replying on WhatsApp for part of a morning. Shinn said a configuration issue on Instinct’s side had interrupted payments to a service provider. Some users also reported WhatsApp bans, which haven’t been explained (Digit).

How to get Instinct

There’s no public sign-up. You have two options:

1. Get an invite from a friend who uses it. Existing users have a small number of invites to share.
2. Join the waitlist from instinct.com.

Don’t pay for an invite. Resold invites put you in someone else’s hands before you’ve even started, and Instinct itself is free right now.

What Instinct costs

Nothing, for now. Instinct is free during the invite-only beta, and the company hasn’t published any prices. Its terms already include a section on paid services, so it will likely charge eventually. Some third-party sites guess at future prices; none of those numbers come from Instinct.

What people like

• It feels like texting a person. No app to learn, no buttons, no settings to find.
• It finishes real-world tasks, including the ones that need a phone call.
• Group chats. One Instinct can handle the plans for a whole group, something Muse doesn’t offer.
• Free. At least while the beta lasts.

What people complain about

• You can’t get in. Invite-only access is the most common frustration.
• It trains on your data by default. Under the current terms, Instinct can use your materials to train AI models unless you opt out at app.instinct.com/settings, and the opt-out only applies from then on. Items in its Vault are excluded.
• Acting without asking. A tester reported it sending an email without asking (Startup Fortune).
• Keeping data after you disconnect. In August, testers said it kept stored Gmail messages after they revoked access. Instinct later added a setting to delete external data (Unbiased Headlines).
• Reliability. It depends on messaging platforms it doesn’t control, and the November WhatsApp outage showed what happens when something breaks.

Our Instinct review covers these in more detail.

Instinct vs Muse

Because they launched into the same moment, people often compare the two directly:

• Access. Muse needs no invite in the US, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Mexico (iPhone in Canada, PhocusWire, Meta, Mexico News Daily). Instinct needs an invite.
• Where you use it. Instinct lives in your existing messaging apps, once you’re invited. Muse has its own app and website; chatting with it in WhatsApp is only in limited testing.
• Groups. Instinct can join group chats, including with friends who don’t have an account. Muse can’t, as of TechCrunch’s October report.
• Price. Instinct is free during the beta with no announced prices. Muse is free up to a limit, with $20 and $100 plans.
• Backing. Muse is built by Meta. Instinct is a startup with a lot of investor money.

If you can get an Instinct invite and like the idea of texting an assistant, try it. If you can’t, Muse is the closest errand agent available today, and Poke the closest assistant you text. Our Muse review covers Muse in detail.

Is Instinct safe to use?

Instinct asks for a lot of access: your email, accounts and payment details, so it can act for you. Its terms let it train on your materials unless you opt out, and make it your agent for agreements and transactions. Testers have reported it acting without asking. If you use it, opt out of training at app.instinct.com/settings before connecting anything, keep sensitive details in its Vault, and start with low-stakes tasks.

Instinct alternatives

• Muse is the closest alternative you can actually sign up for today. It’s Meta’s errand agent, free to start, in the US, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Mexico.
• Poke is the texting assistant with open sign-up: you text it in iMessage or Telegram, it connects to your email and calendar, and it messages you first when something needs attention. It has a free plan.
• Grok Bot runs several AI agents for you on a cloud computer and can call businesses. It starts at $30 a month.
• OpenClaw also works through WhatsApp, iMessage and other chat apps, but runs on your own computer. It’s free and open source, if you’re comfortable setting it up.
• Manus is better for producing reports, websites and slide decks than for errands.

See the full comparison in Instinct alternatives.