Travel bookings represent the dominant use case for the AI agent startup Instinct, with more than 50% of platform transactions related to travel, according to founder Noah Shinn.
What Happened
In a recent interview with investor Patrick O’Shaughnessy, Shinn revealed that the invite-only platform is approaching $1 billion in annual transactions, though he did not specify the calculation method behind this figure. Shinn emphasized that Instinct’s value proposition lies in unifying disparate services—such as hotel chains, airlines, and other providers—into a single interface that allows for immediate checkout.
Shinn described a scenario where users could urgently request, "Hey, I need to be in New York tonight," contrasting this with traditional travel agency interfaces. He reported that the platform is growing at a rate of 10% per day, with transaction volume increasing at a similar pace.
The founder also discussed ambitions to reinvent restaurant reservations. Shinn argued that current first-come-first-served systems fail to account for special occasions, proposing that agents could monitor restaurant availability every five seconds to secure slots for significant life events. He suggested that restaurants would prefer catering to such occasions over regulars who do not generate special event revenue.
Why It Matters
Shinn’s comments highlight the current trend where travel serves as the primary entry point for consumer AI agents, a pattern observed in many tech demonstrations. The data suggests that despite the broad capabilities of AI agents, users are currently leveraging them most heavily for complex, multi-step booking processes that unify fragmented service providers.
However, the proposed model for restaurant reservations has drawn criticism. Observers noted that AI agents could misrepresent the nature of a reservation—such as lying about anniversaries—to gain preferential treatment. Critics also pointed out that many restaurants rely on local regulars for steady business, challenging the assumption that venues universally prioritize special occasion bookings over consistent patronage.
Instinct operates in a competitive personal agent space, recently raising $1 billion in a Series C funding round at a $10 billion valuation from Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Coatue. The 14-person startup competes with other AI initiatives, including Meta’s Muse and Khosla-backed Wajo.
The Bottom Line
Instinct is scaling rapidly with a focus on travel automation, claiming over half of its transactions and nearly $1 billion in annual volume. While the company aims to expand into restaurant reservations, the strategy faces skepticism regarding user trust and the economic preferences of local businesses.