Instinct brings its AI agent to group chats, even for friends without an account

Your AI assistant can now coordinate plans with your friends, even if they haven't signed up for it.

AI startup Instinct has launched a new feature allowing its AI agent to be added to group chats, even if not all participants have an Instinct account. The company announced on Monday that this functionality, available in early access, aims to streamline group planning for activities like travel, event coordination, or managing shared responsibilities. Instinct's agent will operate within the group chat, assisting with tasks without needing direct access to individual users' accounts. This move positions Instinct in direct competition with rivals such as Meta's Muse and OpenAI's ChatGPT Dots, as AI agents increasingly vie for a role in consumer-facing applications. Instinct founder Noah Shinn emphasized user privacy, stating that the agent requires explicit permission before sharing information or taking actions, and that group data is siloed from personal accounts. The feature is expected to roll out to all users soon.

Instinct's expansion into group chats marks a significant step in the consumer AI agent race, directly challenging Meta's Muse by offering a crucial collaborative feature that Meta AI has only partially addressed. By enabling the agent to function seamlessly even without all participants being users, Instinct lowers the barrier to entry for widespread adoption and utility within social contexts.

The strategic inclusion of group chat functionality, coupled with recent additions like phone call capabilities, underscores a broader industry trend towards making AI agents indispensable tools for everyday social and logistical coordination. This development pressures competitors to rapidly innovate and integrate similar cross-platform collaborative features to remain competitive in the evolving personal AI landscape.