What is Instinct?
Instinct is an AI agent people text to get things done. It books restaurant tables and travel, makes purchases, pays bills, cancels subscriptions and orders groceries. It has its own phone number, and its concierge feature can call a business to make an appointment when the business doesn't take bookings online. It has been invite-only since August 2026 and doesn't have an app yet.
It's growing fast. On September 28, Instinct announced a $1 billion Series C at a $10 billion valuation, about a month after a round that valued it at $2.5 billion. On October 5 it added group chats, so one agent can plan a trip or a carpool for a group of friends, even friends who haven't signed up.
What is Hark?
Hark is a personal AI assistant that works through websites and apps. It launched Hark Pro on October 6, 2026, free on web, iOS and Android, with paid tiers at $20 and $100 a month for more usage. Its Handoff feature runs a computer in the cloud that can log into sites, fill forms, place orders and book things, and it asks before it pays for anything. It doesn't make phone calls.
Hark is run by Brett Adcock and raised a $700 million Series A in May. When it previewed Handoff in August, it said the agent works on sites without official connections, like Target, Walmart and OpenTable, by reading the page and deciding where to click and type.
| Instinct | Hark | |
|---|---|---|
| How people use it | By text, invite-only | App and web, free tier |
| Calls businesses? | Yes, through its concierge feature | No |
| Books online? | Yes, through platforms like Resy | Yes, by using websites directly |
| Where it reaches you | Your phone line | Your website and booking tools |
| Latest news | $1B raise at $10B valuation (Sep 28); group chats (Oct 5) | Hark Pro launched (Oct 6) |
Will Instinct call my business?
It might, if a customer asks it to book with you and you don't take bookings online. That call sounds like a regular caller asking for an appointment. If nobody picks up, you lose it the same way you lose any missed call, except the agent can just try the next business on the list.
That's the same pattern we covered with Meta's Muse in AI agents have started calling your business. The fix is the same too: answer every call, or have something answer for you. That's what our Orion receptionist does, and it handles an AI caller the same way it handles a person.
Will Hark book through my website?
It can, if your website lets it. Hark works by reading the page and filling in what it finds, so it does best with plain, working websites: a quote or booking form that's easy to find, labeled fields, your phone number and hours written as text, and no steps that only make sense to a human looking at a picture.
If your site is a single page with a phone number in an image and no form, Hark has nothing to do there. It will move on to a competitor whose site it can use. You can check what an AI sees on your site with our free AI check.
Do I need to sign up for anything or pay for these?
No. Instinct and Hark are tools your customers use, not services a business joins. There's no listing to buy and no partner program to apply to. What matters is whether your phone gets answered and whether your website works when an agent shows up.
Should I be worried about AI agents booking my business?
Mostly no, but it's worth knowing the limits. Hark asks before it pays for anything, so a customer still approves the booking. Bots can also cause trouble: CNN reported in September that some diners using Instinct were banned after it hit Resy hundreds of times an hour. For a contractor, the practical risk is smaller. You'll get a request, and you decide whether to take the job, same as always.
What should a local business do now?
Three things, none of them new: answer every call, keep a simple quote or booking form on your website, and keep your hours, services and service area written as plain text on your site and on Google. Those same basics work for a person, for Instinct calling you, and for Hark using your site.
For the full picture of which agents do what, see which AI agents actually call and book local businesses.
Sources
- TechCrunch, Viral AI agent Instinct raises $1B Series C at a $10B valuation (September 28, 2026)
- TechCrunch, Instinct brings its AI agent to group chats (October 5, 2026)
- TechCrunch, Hark previews its browser use agent for completing tasks (August 5, 2026)
- Progressive Robot, Hark Pro AI agent on web, iOS and Android (October 6, 2026)
- CNN, Now AI is trying to gobble up dinner reservations (September 23, 2026)
