Instinct's powerful AI assistant sparks privacy and security concerns
Instinct, an AI personal assistant still in private access, is drawing praise for its capabilities but also criticism over its terms of service and data handling. Testers reported trouble deleting stored emails, continued data access after disconnecting, and vulnerability to phishing.
Instinct, an AI personal assistant currently limited to private testing, has attracted attention both for its capabilities and for the privacy risks it raises. The product comes from a small San Francisco-based team led by former Sierra research scientist Noah Shinn, operating under the company Spear Street Technology. The assistant connects to a user's email, messaging apps, calendar, and device audio, location, and screen, and can be reached via text message or WhatsApp to handle tasks such as booking appointments, arranging rides, and managing shopping.
Concerns over terms and data handling
Screenshots of Instinct's terms of service have circulated online, showing that the company claims a broad, "perpetual and irrevocable" license to access, use, store, and modify users' materials, including for training its AI models. The terms also describe collection of data such as screen captures, cursor movements, and keyboard input, and grant Instinct authority to enter binding agreements on a user's behalf.
One early user reported that Instinct would not delete his stored Gmail data upon request, a problem later addressed by adding a deletion tool. Another tester found the assistant was still summarizing her inbox hours after she had disconnected its access; the bot confirmed her emails had been stored in plain text for future searches.
Security worries
One tester noted that Instinct was able to independently retrieve a verification code from an email inbox to complete a restaurant booking. Another user, testing how easily the assistant could be phished, deleted his account after the experiment succeeded. A venture investor said Instinct sent an email on her behalf without prior approval, which she said undermined her trust in the tool.
Industry observers say tools like Instinct could reshape consumer security norms, as people increasingly grant third-party apps access to passwords and data without fully understanding how that information is stored. Instinct's team has not publicly responded to the criticism, while investors say Kleiner Perkins and Conviction have backed the startup.
