Instinct's AI Agent Now Joins Your Group Chats to Plan Events

Instinct, a company valued at $10 billion, just launched a feature that lets you add its AI agent to group chats with friends. The agent can help with tasks like planning a trip, buying event tickets, running a fantasy league, or organizing a Thanksgiving dinner. The big news: your friends don't need to have Instinct accounts to join the chat and benefit from the AI's help. This makes it easier to coordinate with anyone, even those who haven't signed up.

In group chats, your personal AI agent acts as a gatekeeper. It asks for your permission before sharing any personal information or taking actions on your behalf. The group's AI agent is kept separate from your personal account, so it can't access your private data. If new people join the chat, any pending replies from your agent are paused until you approve. This privacy-first approach is designed to make you feel safe using the AI in social settings.

This move puts Instinct ahead of competitors like Meta's Muse, which doesn't yet offer group chat functionality. Meta's older app, Meta AI, can be added to group chats on WhatsApp and Messenger, but Instinct's new feature is more integrated. The competition is heating up: both Instinct and Muse recently added phone call capabilities, and OpenAI launched personal AI agents called ChatGPT Dots that work in collaborative spaces. The race is on to see whose AI becomes your go-to assistant for everyday tasks.

The feature is rolling out first to Instinct's early access users and will expand to everyone soon. To try it, you can ask your Instinct agent to put you on the list. This could save you time and reduce the back-and-forth of planning with friends, making group decisions faster and easier.