In a recent interview, Instinct founder Noah Shinn shared contrarian views on personal AI assistants: they don't need standalone apps and can interact via SMS, WhatsApp, and email; a special data flywheel emerges, with ~40% of users willing to provide credit card info after about three weeks and ~80% retention after connecting sensitive data; AI assistants can form network effects; Instinct's annualized transaction volume exceeds $1 billion with just over 100,000 users; AI assistants could shift to a transaction commission model, with plans for one billion free users.
Cal AI co-founder Zach Yadegari has launched Persona, an AI agent startup that raised $10 million in funding led by Vine Ventures, with participation from Cory Levy and Collective Global. Persona, a personal AI assistant, will offer a $179 wearable band, run its model in the cloud, encrypt user data, and allow users to delete their data.