Instinct’s new product recommendations are giving some users the ick
- ID
- 30353
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 30 Sep 2026, 11:56 PM
- Fetched
- 01 Oct 2026, 12:10 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/30/instincts-new-product-recommendations-are-giving-some-users-the-ick/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 4.0
- Created
- 01 Oct 2026, 12:10 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- ai_agent_userssaas_foundersdevelopers
What happened
Instinct, an AI agent startup, rolled out a new monetization feature called Instinct Selections that pushes product recommendations to users in dining, travel, and shopping, announced by founder Noah Shinn on X. The recommendations mix AI suggestions with lists handpicked by partners Shinn described as "local chefs, designers, architects, travel guides," and Instinct did not disclose who those partners are. The rollout drew immediate pushback, including from Shruti Gandhi, a general partner at an AI-focused fund, who posted that she "didn't need to buy carry-on luggage, sunglasses, or a brim hat" and asked for a personalized shopping list of things she actually needs.
Why it matters
If you ship an agent that monetizes through recommendations, this is a live example of the failure mode: unsolicited product pushes landed overnight with no visible opt-in, and the criticism came from an investor in the same space within a day. Decide now whether recommendations are opt-in, clearly labeled as commercial, or suppressed until the user asks — the Instinct case suggests default-on pushes cost you goodwill faster than they earn revenue. The undisclosed partner list is a second concrete risk: if you claim "human taste" as a differentiator, being unable to say who the humans are undermines the claim.
Discussion angle
Would an opt-in, request-only recommendation flow have avoided this backlash entirely, or is the deeper problem that agent monetization is visible to users the moment it appears in their feed?