# Instinct — Terms of Service analysis

Instinct's Terms of Service govern its website, apps, and AI assistant, operated by Spear Street Technology, Inc. This analysis explains what the documents say for a general reader deciding whether to use the assistant. It now covers the terms plus the three linked binding documents: the Privacy Notice, the Acceptable Use Policy, and the SMS/Text Messaging Terms (with its SMS Privacy Statement), so this reading is full.

- Source: https://instinct.com/terms
- Last revised: August 26, 2026 (terms and Privacy Notice); August 20, 2026 (Acceptable Use Policy); August 17, 2026 (SMS Terms)
- Retrieved: September 22, 2026 (terms); September 23, 2026 (linked documents)
- Scope: full (all three linked binding documents extracted)

## How hard it is to read

Hard. The document runs long, leans heavily on defined terms, and stacks several all-caps blocks, though it opens with a table of contents and clear section names.

## Product

Instinct is an AI personal assistant that acts on your behalf, and the terms treat its actions as yours. It can make purchases and enter agreements for you, and anything it commits to binds you "as if entered into directly by you" (Section 3). You keep ownership of your own Materials, but the company owns the assistant and the technology behind it, and it "makes no representation or warranty to you that any copyright or other intellectual property rights will vest in any Output" (Section 3). The license to you is personal use only (Section 6), and "all payments are non-refundable" (Section 4). The company may change pricing at any time.

## Usage

Using Instinct means giving it standing access to your other accounts. You authorize it "to access, copy, collect, and index data from your Connected Services" (Section 3), and disconnecting a service does not pull that data back: "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" (Section 3). The Privacy Notice says the same and names the deletion path: "disconnecting a third-party integration does not automatically delete data collected from that integration. You can delete all data indexed from external sources by visiting app.instinct.com/workspace" (Privacy Notice, Information collected from other sources). The Privacy Notice also shows how much you may hand over, including "your username and password for third-party accounts so that the personal assistant can sign into these accounts on your behalf" and health-related information. The now-included Acceptable Use Policy sets the conduct rules ("Don't violate the law, violate the rights of others, or engage in harmful activities when using the Services," Section 1), bars unauthorized system access and deception, and states "If this Policy and the Terms conflict, the Terms supersede and control." Use runs under a long list of restrictions, one account per person (Section 2), and an 18-or-older floor (Section 1). The terms "unsafe" and "inappropriate" govern what actions you may take but are not defined.

## Feedback and improvement

Your data trains the company's models by default: "we may use Materials to... improve the Services and our other products and services, including training AI models" (Section 3). The opt-out in settings has two holes: safety-flagged material is still used, and "we may still use AI models previously trained... on your Materials prior to your opting out" (Section 3). Material you place in the "Vault" is the one clean exception and is never used for training. The Privacy Notice widens this story: training also draws on behavioral Usage Data, "including to evaluate, fine-tune and train the AI models that power our products and technology" from data such as keystrokes, clicks, and cursor positions (Privacy Notice, Information we collect automatically), and the company "may use deidentified information for any purpose" (Privacy Notice, Deidentified information). Data from a linked Google Workspace is the carve-out: "We do not use information received from Google Workspace APIs to evaluate, fine-tune, train, or improve AI models, or for serving ads" (Privacy Notice, Information collected from Google Workspace). Separately, any Feedback you send "becomes the sole and exclusive property of the Company," and you assign them every right in it (Section 7).

## Legal ramifications

Disputes leave the courts. Any claim "will be settled by final and binding arbitration... administered by JAMS," and "class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted" (Section 10). You can opt out of arbitration by emailing support@instinct.com within 30 days of first agreeing. Recovery is capped: total liability "SHALL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100.00), OR THE AMOUNT YOU PAID... IN THE PAST SIX (6) MONTHS" (Section 9). You indemnify the company broadly, one way (Section 9). The company can change the terms and treat continued use as acceptance (Section 11), and it "may suspend, disable, or delete your Account... with or without notice, for any or no reason" (Section 11). Governing law is California. The Privacy Notice lists who your data can go to, including "Third-party AI model providers who help support the Services" and "Third-party business partners who may use the information for their own purposes" on an aggregate or anonymized basis, while stating "We do not sell your information or disclose your information to registered data brokers." The SMS program sends one-time sign-in codes; reply STOP to cancel and HELP for help, "Wireless carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages" (SMS Terms), and the SMS Privacy Statement says the company does not share your mobile number with third parties for their marketing.

## Structure summary

The evidence below is factual: what the document contains, quoted and located. It is not a score or a judgment.

- Contradictions: none found.
- Undefined terms carrying weight: "meaningful human review" and "unsafe / inappropriate" (Section 3); "objectionable" (Section 6).
- One-sided provisions: the company may assign the Terms, you may not without its consent (Section 11); indemnity runs one way (Section 9); the company may change pricing at any time (Section 4).
- Absolute statements: account deletion "with or without notice, for any or no reason" (Section 11); a full warranty disclaimer (Section 9); "we reserve the right to take any action that we may deem appropriate" for policy violations (Acceptable Use Policy); "we may use deidentified information for any purpose" (Privacy Notice).
- Scope limitations: 30-day arbitration opt-out (Section 10); small-claims, injunctive, and IP exceptions to arbitration (Section 10); a New Jersey warranty carve-out (Section 9); export and sanctions limits (Section 11); Google Workspace API data excluded from AI model training and ad targeting (Privacy Notice).
- Gaps: neither the terms nor the Privacy Notice states a retention period for your Materials or personal information; no statement of what happens to Materials if the company shuts down.

## Caveats

This analysis explains what the documents say, not what they mean legally or what will happen if you violate them. It is not legal advice, does not assess enforceability, does not predict how a court would read these provisions, and does not judge the company. Quotes are verbatim from the Terms of Service (revised August 26, 2026), the Privacy Notice (revised August 26, 2026), the Acceptable Use Policy (revised August 20, 2026), and the SMS/Text Messaging Terms (revised August 17, 2026) with its SMS Privacy Statement (revised July 6, 2026). The terms were retrieved September 22, 2026 and the linked documents September 23, 2026. All linked binding documents are now extracted, so this run is full.