Instinct, the rapidly growing AI assistant now carrying a $2.5 billion valuation, has launched a feature that gives each user's agent its own dedicated email address, according to a report published Tuesday on TechCrunch. The company's founder, Noah Shinn, announced that these new email addresses enable the AI agent to establish and operate its own accounts without filling users' personal inboxes with service notifications. The feature represents a step toward allowing the assistant to handle account registration and oversight independently when completing tasks that require email communication.
The new email capability allows Instinct to handle several types of tasks autonomously, including reaching out to restaurants about special requests, inquiring with businesses about availability, and registering for services needed to complete user tasks. Users can forward order confirmations and other information to their Instinct email address, enabling the agent to manage processes like product returns by contacting support, providing order details, and securing return labels without user intervention. The bot can also be added to group email threads to track exchanged information or receive lengthy threads for analysis of pending decisions and upcoming deadlines. Instinct has reserved email addresses for its earliest adopters, while other users can claim theirs through mail.instinct.com.
According to Shinn, the feature is designed to let Instinct "own and run its own accounts," handling most everyday tasks that flow through email such as creating accounts, confirming bookings, and managing follow-ups. The report notes that while this could make the user experience more seamless by eliminating the need for users to intervene with logins or credentials, it creates a layer of obscurity for businesses trying to establish customer relationships, since they'd be dealing with an AI rather than directly with the person. However, many customers may view this as an advantage, given widespread fatigue with handing over email addresses and phone numbers for simple or one-time transactions.
The email feature arrives as part of a broader push to expand Instinct's autonomous capabilities through recent partnerships and tools. Last week, the company teamed up with 1Password to facilitate logins to users' existing accounts, while a new location-sharing feature lets the assistant understand where users are currently located to help find nearby businesses, map routes, and answer questions about location history such as parking spots or previously visited restaurants. In August, Instinct partnered with Stripe to enable seamless payment experiences, allowing the agent to book trips, classes, and appointments and make purchases on behalf of users. These additions collectively position the assistant to handle more complex, multi-step tasks without requiring constant user input, though the agent checks back in when it needs human decisions. For businesses and consumers alike, the shift toward AI intermediaries handling routine account management may reshape expectations around direct customer relationships, while users gain efficiency at the potential cost of personal touchpoints in commercial interactions.