Instinct AI Assistant Triggers Privacy and Security Alarms

Instinct, a private-access AI personal assistant from Spear Street Technology led by former Sierra researcher Noah Shinn, is drawing scrutiny over how deeply it integrates with user accounts and devices. The assistant is designed to access email, messaging, calendars, audio, location, screen activity, and keyboard input so it can autonomously handle tasks such as scheduling and inbox management, but testers said that level of access creates significant trust and security risks.

Users and reviewers reported that Instinct’s terms of service grant broad rights over user materials, including use for AI training, and raised concerns that the service retained Gmail data and continued generating inbox summaries even after access was revoked. Additional complaints alleged that some emails were stored in plain text, the assistant could retrieve sign-up codes from email, was susceptible to phishing, and in at least one case sent an email on a user’s behalf without prior confirmation, underscoring the risks of highly privileged AI agents acting with limited oversight.