Instinct adds Selections feature, bringing expert picks into its personal agent

Personal agent assistant Instinct has launched Selections, a new feature that plugs recommendations from real-world experts into its agent product and then filters those options based on a user’s preferences. The company said it plans to work with local chefs, designers, architects, and travel guides, who will curate restaurants, travel routes, and products in their areas of expertise. Instinct then uses those lists to surface choices that match a user’s style, budget, or other stated needs. The rollout draws attention because Noah Shinn recently argued against an ad-driven model in his first public long-form interview. Shinn said personal agents may hold large amounts of user data, and letting brands pay to persuade users to buy things they did not originally want would create an obvious conflict of interest. Instinct’s current plan is to offer the product to users for free and charge commissions to merchants that receive orders through the agent. The company has not said whether merchants can pay to enter recommendation lists, and it has not disclosed whether participating experts are being paid. That leaves an unresolved question over whether future recommendations could be influenced by how much revenue Instinct can earn from a transaction.