This invite-only AI agent may be a hyped-up privacy nightmare, but users are selling early access on eBay

A 23-year-old college dropout created an “invite-only” AI agent start-up, valued at $10 billion. Many are saying it's a contender for Meta’s Muse, and it's so popular that users are selling their invites on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

Instinct is the latest AI start-up that’s making waves online. Founded by 23-year-old Noah Shinn, the start-up is following the same path as start-ups like Humane AI and Rabbit R1, the AI personal assistant.

“Instinct's core model is trained to understand and handle the deeply personal nuances of everyday life,” according to the company.

It can supposedly handle various tasks, such as booking a handyman or arranging a ride to the airport, and persistently reminds users of tasks they may have forgotten.

Shinn positions Instinct as “the best personal agent for all of you,” claiming it has all of the capabilities of a top-range AI agent without the hassle of mastering a new interface, according to the founder’s X post.

The exclusivity of this agent has made users curious, so much so that people have taken to selling access to Instinct on eBay for upwards of $200.

Selling Instinct invites on eBay for $200

Shinn appeared on the Invest Like the Best podcast, hosted by venture capitalist Patrick O’Shaughnessey, to discuss building Instinct.

There, he mentioned that the project gained so much traction that people began selling their early access invitations on eBay.

Cybernews went to eBay to see if this was true, and sure enough, we found listings advertising invitations for between $93 and upwards of $200.

However, we could only find 2 listings, so it’s not as hyped as Shinn may have made it out to be.

Despite that, people are still curious about the new AI agent, which is supposedly easier to navigate than some others out there.

That's because users can just text or call Instinct via iMessage or WhatsApp and instruct it on what to do.

Instinct handled users' visas and flights to Bali

One early user instructed Instinct to deal with their flights from Copenhagen to Bali and their travel visa for Indonesia.

While this sounds risky, the user wanted to see how far they could push the AI agent, and, to their surprise, the gate opened and let them into the country.

This user (who says they weren’t sponsored by Instinct) was extremely impressed with the product, while a WIRED journalist had mixed feelings.

An AI agent that wants full access to your data

The issue with Instinct isn’t necessarily about how powerful the model is, which is the narrative that some AI leaders and tech skeptics are currently pushing.

Instead, it’s about how much access you give the agent.

For an agent to work, you almost have to give it unbridled access to your device, meaning that Instinct may be able to read your personal messages, private emails, and potentially access other apps that contain sensitive data like bank details or credit card numbers.

The early tester who let Instinct handle their flights and visa said that they gave the AI agent their card details and travel information – likely meaning that they gave Instinct permission to access their card information used to process payments and their unchangeable passport number.

This is very risky, particularly when we learn what Instinct is doing behind the scenes.

For example, the start-up's terms of service state that when accepting, the user grants Instinct the rights to use data to train its AI models and other products.

If users don’t want Instinct to use their data to train its AI, they can choose to opt out.

Instinct has previously been accused of leaking a user's data. The start-up denied these claims and stated that an incident occurred when the model “fabricated a proper noun.”

The incident allegedly involved a user who saw another person’s information, including images and a financial document.