TechCrunch: Instinct AI's Always-On Personal Agent Draws Privacy Alarm Over Perpetual-License Terms

Instinct, a private-beta personal AI assistant from ex-Sierra researcher Noah Shinn's Spear Street Technology, is drawing early-tester alarm over a perpetual-and-irrevocable license to reuse user data for training, plain-text email storage, easy phishing susceptibility, and an agent that has sent messages and continued summarizing Gmail hours after access was revoked. Investors at Kleiner Perkins and Conviction have backed the company; Moxxie's Katie Jacobs Stanton warned 'one unauthorized action can reset that trust to zero.'