Photo Credit: Instinct, a text message-based Ai assistant, has become the VC world's new hot bot. Courtesy of Instinct
Instinct, a freshman AI assistant that has Silicon Valley buzzing, can book and rebook trips from a text thread. Key lesson for travel: Talking about frictionless booking isn't the same as delivering it.
LinkedIn X Facebook Email Gift How does Instinct technically complete bookings—is it using browser-level automation, and how reliable is that at scale? What are the liability and consumer-protection implications when an autonomous agent makes booking errors or acts without user confirmation? How should travel brands like Expedia, JetBlue, or Otto position themselves as generalist agents become the customer-facing storefront? Select a question above or ask something else
A startup founded by 23-year-old Noah Shinn has become the latest "it" thing in Silicon Valley by building a text message-based AI agent that can execute tasks with surprisingly little friction, including booking and rebooking travel.
A post this week by Altimeter Capital founder Brad Gerstner shared one example: a screenshot showing Instinct booking a hotel room from a simple text message. He and friend Bill Gurley made a bet two years ago, he said on X.com, "as to when a consumer AI would be able to seamlessly book a hotel room. @noahrshinn & Instinct have made this a seamless reality."
The agent, available on an invite-only basis, works via SMS and WhatsApp. "There are no new interfaces," Shinn said in an X post. " You can text or call it."
According to TechCrunch, the bot has sparked excitement from the VC community. One post, shared by Jesse Middleton, a general partner at venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners and an ea
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Tags: artificial intelligence , startups , the prompt , travel tech
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