Is Instinct safe to use? Three things to know before you sign up

Artificial intelligence capabilities are rapidly evolving, and it seems like there’s always a new buzzy use case emerging that’s leaps and bounds more advanced than what came before. AI is now finding its way from workplaces into people’s daily lives with utilizations of AI’s potential as a do-it-all assistant. But these advanced agents carry some major privacy considerations.

Instinct, a new invite-only AI personal assistant, is already receiving high praise from users and VCs in Silicon Valley as one of the hottest startups in the consumer AI space. But the reality is that Intinct’s handling of personal data and privacy may present a real risk, as reported by TechCrunch.

While the need for AI assistants is real, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your data, privacy, and safety to make the most of these tools. At Norton, our commitment to security is non-negotiable, and that's why we built Norton Family Assistant like we did. It’s a hyper-capable agent that keeps your data private.

Before you turn over your personal information to Instinct, here’s what you need to know.

1. Instinct can use your personal information to train AI models

Unless you proactively opt out by visiting app.instinct.co/settings or use the protected “Vault” feature, information you give Instinct’s assistant may help train AI models.

Because Instinct’s default settings allow it to share data, any personal, work, or family information that you share with the assistant may be used for AI training. 

This means that your data can be used in ways you didn't directly authorize. This brings up privacy concerns — once your data enters a training set, you lose control of it, and you can’t remove or correct it. This can include sensitive information like your browsing habits, location patterns, health details, financial data, and political views. Even “anonymized” datasets can sometimes be re-identified and traced back to you.

2. Instinct can access and collect data from any connected accounts

One of the most convenient features of Instinct’s AI assistant is that it can connect to your different accounts to better help you organize your life. However, an alarming part of Instinct's Terms of Service (as of September 2, 2026) states that “even if you disconnect a Connected Service, we may still use the indexed Connected Service Input data unless you follow the instructions to request deletion.”  

That means that even if you disconnect an account, that information doesn’t automatically disappear.  

You may connect an account for convenience without realizing how much information the agent is ingesting, and any previously indexed information may remain even after you disconnect it. 

Claire Vo, host of the “How I AI” podcast and founder of CXO.dev and ChatPRD, shared her experience with this issue on X. She recently disconnected Instinct from her Google account, but three hours after disconnecting, she got a summary of her emails. 

She confirmed there was no access and everything was disconnected but learned “the agent has been keeping copies of emails in my inbox in its own records ... despite revoking email access, Instinct keeps copies of these emails in my record for arbitrary searching.” The last stored email was from before she disconnected.

3. Instinct can make purchases for you — even ones you don’t intend to  

Instinct’s personal assistant can make purchases on your behalf using payment methods that you have shared, and any purchase made by Instinct is legally treated as being made by you.

While this can be convenient, it can also lead to unintended purchases. The agent could misunderstand an instruction, select the wrong product, or make a purchase you never wanted in the first place. If you want to dispute the purchase, it’s between you and the merchant, as the Terms state, “disputes regarding any such purchase are between you and the applicable Connected Service provider, not us” —  essentially, your AI assistant is off the hook.

You don’t need to sacrifice your personal data to get the help you need  

Unlike other AI agent providers, Norton puts your security front and center. When we were creating our Norton Family Assistant, we wanted to give you access to cutting-edge AI while also keeping your information private. 

Because it’s supported by Norton technology, you can have peace of mind in knowing that Family Assistant is built with safeguards designed to help protect your personal information. Anything you share with Family Assistant is not used to train our AI-provider models, and our AI providers do not retain any family workspace content.

Family Assistant can help you keep track of and summarize emails from your kids’ school and activities, plan your calendar and flag any potential conflicts, and even help fill out forms and make bookings on behalf of your family members.  

You also don’t need to worry about the assistant acting on your behalf without your explicit consent. For actions like submitting forms, sending messages, or booking appointments, Family Assistant will show you what it plans to do and wait for your confirmation before proceeding.

Plus, it’s easy to delete any data you share with Norton Family Assistant. You can do this by deleting your Norton account, or by going to Settings → Account → Delete instance within the assistant if you would like to keep your Norton account.

AI assistants are here — and they can be immensely helpful — but you should not need to sacrifice your data or security to reap the benefits.