AI Secretary Instinct Valued at $10B | Why It Quadrupled in One Month
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Just send a message saying "Cancel this subscription for me," and the AI actually completes the process. That's the kind of service that quadrupled its valuation in a single month. This article offers an easy-to-understand look at the AI agent "Instinct" that everyone is talking about, and why investment money is flooding in.
On September 28, 2026, San Francisco-based startup Instinct announced a major funding round.
The raise was $1 billion (approximately ¥157 billion). Leading investors in the Series C (a third funding round for companies in the growth stage) included well-known firms Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, and Coatue.
What stands out is the speed. The valuation (an estimate of the company's worth) reached $10 billion (approximately ¥1.57 trillion).
Back on August 26, the valuation was $2.5 billion (approximately ¥390 billion). At that time, Index Ventures and Benchmark led the round, raising $250 million. Total cumulative funding was $350 million.
In other words, the company's estimated value quadrupled in just over a month — and the service is still invite-only, without even an official launch.
Founder Noah Shinn commented: "With this funding, we'll bring Instinct to more people and continue building the future of personal AI."
Instinct is a personal AI agent (an AI that carries out tasks on your behalf) developed by a company called Spear Street Technology.
Its defining feature is that there's no new screen to learn. There's no dedicated app yet — you simply talk to the AI through the SMS (short message service) or phone calls you already use every day.
Instinct is trained to operate virtual smartphones and computers the same way a human would.
It connects to email, calendars, messages, location data, and more to understand the user's situation. From there, it opens websites, fills out forms, and completes payments.
Many AIs, like ChatGPT, stop at something like "Here's a recommended restaurant." The difference with Instinct is that it goes all the way through making the reservation.
A feature called "Trusted Person Network" has recently been added. Friends' AIs communicate directly with each other to arrange get-together dates or share files.
A phone-based booking and cancellation service called "Instinct Concierge" has also been added.
Why is a company so early in its life being valued at the equivalent of ¥1.5 trillion? There are three main reasons.
Noah Shinn is 23 years old. He is known as the lead author of a paper on "Reflexion," a technique that allows AI to reflect on its own failures and improve from them.
The paper was published in 2023 and has been widely cited in AI agent research. He was later reported to have worked as a researcher at Sierra, a company focused on customer service AI.
Instinct was founded in 2025 and began limited testing in February 2026. In early August, stories on social media about how it "actually completed the cancellation" went viral, generating a sudden surge of buzz.
According to reports, the number of users exceeded 100,000 as of September 15, 2026. For an invite-only service, that figure is remarkable.
Early users reportedly had it plan cross-country road trips and cancel hundreds of dollars' worth of subscriptions in total.
What investors are watching is a future where AI sits between people and the internet.
Right now, we open apps, search on our own, and shop for ourselves. If AI handles all of that on our behalf, then "which AI you turn to" becomes the new gateway.
A company that captures that gateway first could end up in a position as dominant as search engines or smartphone operating systems. That's why enormous sums of money pour in even when profits are still zero.
Personal AI agents are currently the most fiercely competitive space in tech. SiliconANGLE reports that there are approximately ten or more rivals.
| Service | Provider | How to Use | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Instinct | Spear Street Technology | SMS, phone call | Free during invite-only beta |
| Muse | Meta | Dedicated app, Instagram integration | Free plan + $20/month or $100/month |
| ChatGPT agent features | OpenAI | Within the ChatGPT app | Mostly paid plans |
| Siri (agent version) | Apple | iPhone voice control | Included with iPhone |
| Poke, Ollie, and others | Various startups | Messaging-focused | Varies by service |
The biggest rival is Meta's "Muse," announced on September 8. Its strength lies in its integration with Instagram and Facebook Marketplace. On September 27, a feature launched allowing users to place their own Muse on their Instagram profile.
Instinct, on the other hand, competes on the convenience of not needing another app and the ability to see tasks through to completion. Without a major social network of its own, it appears to be aiming for the position of a "neutral secretary" unconstrained by any single company's services.
Instinct's official pricing has not yet been announced, and the timing of its paid tier is also undecided.
Entrusting your daily life entirely to an AI also means handing over all of your personal information. Instinct itself faced criticism that its early terms of service were "too invasive."
Key points from the terms flagged by international media include the following:
The company has since stated that it revised its privacy policy. Even so, questions remain — such as who is responsible if the AI mistakenly purchases a non-refundable airline ticket.
Across AI agents broadly, concerns about mistaken actions and account takeovers represent a major challenge. The balance between convenience and safety is likely to determine how widely these services spread going forward.
At this point, no announcement has been made about Instinct launching in Japan or adding Japanese language support. The service is invite-only and is being opened up gradually due to insufficient computing resources (server capacity to run the AI).
Because the system relies on SMS and phone calls, international expansion requires support for each country's phone numbers and services. A Japan launch is expected to take considerable time.
Even so, this is not an irrelevant story for Japanese users and businesses.
Imagine, for example, a restaurant manager. Until now, reservations came in by phone or through dining reservation websites. A time may come when calls start arriving from "a customer's AI." Businesses will need to think about how to handle reservations made by AI.
The same applies to e-commerce retailers and video streaming subscription providers. If cancellation procedures are deliberately made complicated, an AI will methodically complete them anyway. Conversely, businesses that offer AI-friendly procedures will likely be chosen more often.
Domestically, LINE and AI assistants from various smartphone companies are expected to aim in the same direction. Instinct's rapid growth can also be read as the starting signal for a race to determine who will build Japan's own version of a "life-management AI."
If agents like Instinct become commonplace, how will everyday life change? Let's consider three scenarios.
On Friday night, after putting the kids to bed, you send a message: "Order next week's groceries. Watch out for my son's egg allergy."
By the next morning, the online supermarket order is done, with delivery scheduled for Saturday morning when your calendar is free. The hour you would have spent planning meals and filling the cart is yours again.
At the airport, a company employee learns their flight has been cancelled and sends a single message: "Get me on a flight that still arrives in Osaka today."
The AI searches the airline's website for available seats, books an alternative flight, and updates the hotel with the new arrival time. No waiting in a long phone queue.
Four friends want to take a hot spring trip, but getting everyone's schedules to align is a struggle. Each person's AI cross-references their calendars and finds a weekend when everyone is free.
All that's left is to answer "Is this inn okay?" No more dozens of back-and-forth messages in a group chat.
A. There has been no announcement of availability in Japan at this time. The service itself is invite-only, with sign-ups through a waitlist on the official website.
A. It is free to use during the invite-only beta period. Future pricing has not been officially announced. Some reports suggest an advertising model is also being considered.
A. ChatGPT is primarily an AI for answering questions. Instinct specializes in "executing tasks" such as making bookings, completing purchases, and cancelling subscriptions. It also operates via SMS and phone calls rather than an app.
A. While convenient, the risk of errors exists. The terms of service acknowledge that incorrect actions cannot be completely prevented. It's wise to build in habits like personally confirming high-value purchases before they go through.
A. Since revenues and profits are not yet visible, some voices do point to overheating. That said, investors appear to be betting on the potential for AI to become the "new gateway to the internet."
Start by listing the tedious tasks you repeat every week and thinking about which ones you could hand off to an AI.
This article is a cross-post from AI Friends.
