This AI Helper Works by Text — No App Needed
Instinct launched its AI agent in August by invitation only. The company started with no marketing and barely a website. It offers a helper you reach by text message, like texting an assistant instead of opening a separate app The Verge.
Instinct was founded by Noah Shinn, who earlier worked at Sierra. It was valued at $10 billion in late September, after the launch of Muse. There is no app and no monthly fee for now. You need an invite from a current user or approval from a waitlist to get access.
You talk to the agent over iMessage, WhatsApp, or email. It can connect to Google Workspace, Slack, and Notion. Assistants of this type can do full online tasks for you, such as booking flights Forbes.
Muse launched after Instinct, followed not long after by Dots. Muse is Meta's AI agent. Dots is OpenAI's AI agent. Instinct is the startup in that three-way comparison, operating without the distribution of a major platform.
Both Instinct and Meta's Muse added the ability to make calls around the same time. Meta's Muse can place calls to U.S. businesses, while Instinct's agent can make calls TechCrunch.
Instinct then brought its agent to group chats. Friends can use it together in one chat, even if some friends do not have an account TechCrunch. The company says this is for planning trips and organizing carpools, planning that often gets split across threads, calendars, and direct messages.
The broader context here is about design as much as business. Texting means no install or setup, while the hard work moves to checking identity, setting limits on what the agent can see and do in Workspace and Slack, using tools correctly, and keeping a record of what it did for you. Calls add a new way to act, with new ways to fail. Group chat adds the job of keeping track of several people with different access.
In my view, Instinct is testing how simple an agent can be if its connections work well. For business readers, this will feel familiar from chatops, where work is done through chat. People meet the system where they already make plans, and the agent picks up both the ease and the confusion of that channel. The reason for optimism over time is that trip and carpool planning are good tests for shared planning, where an agent must balance different wishes instead of just following one person's order.
