Instinct, an invite-only AI personal assistant platform founded by Noah Shinn, announced that over half of its transaction volume is centered on travel bookings. Shinn revealed during a recent podcast with investor Patrick O’Shaughnessy that the platform is nearing $1 billion in annual transactions and is experiencing daily growth of 10%, with similar increases in transaction volume. Instinct differentiates itself by offering users a unified interface that integrates multiple airlines, hotels, and services, streamlining urgent travel arrangements through conversational commands rather than traditional booking sites.

The platform aims to improve user experiences beyond travel, particularly in areas like restaurant reservations. Shinn highlighted challenges with current first-come-first-served reservation systems that fail to recognize special occasions. Instinct’s AI agents can monitor availability in real time and are designed to prioritize meaningful events, offering preferential treatment to users celebrating significant life moments. This approach, however, has provoked some criticism concerning ethical considerations about agents potentially misrepresenting occasions to secure reservations.

Instinct recently secured $1 billion in Series C funding at a valuation of $10 billion, with investment from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue. The 14-person startup is competing in the personal AI agent space alongside Meta’s Muse and Wajo, which come with broader social integrations and mobile apps. Although Instinct does not currently offer a mobile app and has kept user metrics private, its rapid fundraising rounds and growth metrics signal strong investor confidence in the company's vision to become a leading AI-driven personal assistant.

Despite its rapid rise, Instinct faces scrutiny around privacy and data security due to the extensive personal information required to offer its services. The company has updated its privacy policy to address early concerns, and Shinn remains optimistic about transforming daily life management through AI. Instinct continues to focus on expanding its transactional capabilities and redefining user interactions with services that traditionally rely on cumbersome human processes.