Six Friends Let Their Assistants Plan the Night, and One Uber Picked Up Everyone
Their assistants compared schedules and Spotify histories, then one car collected all six along the best route.
Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy · Noah Shinn - Building Instinct: The Personal Agent - [Invest Like the Best, EP.493]Six friends let their assistants plan a night out, and one Uber picked up all six. One member of the group had an assistant order the car, and the car worked through a pickup list. One friend learned the car would arrive in five minutes, another in ten minutes, until all six were aboard along the best route for that night.
The group is one that asks its linked assistants to brainstorm something creative every week. The assistants check when everyone is available, what each person likes or dislikes, what shows or concerts are on, and what music they favor from connected Spotify histories, then settle on a different experience for that week.
Noah Shinn, founder of the AI personal assistant Instinct, shared the outing as an example of what changes when assistants can talk to each other. Instinct users can link their assistants so the software handles the coordination directly, without the usual round of texts about who is free when.
That link, under the name trusted person network, had been live for only about 10 days at the time. In the simplest case, a person states an intention, like finding time to meet by a certain date, and the two assistants compare availability and put something on the calendar.
The larger point is the removal of the logistical burden that usually sinks group plans. Planning is normally an active act. In his account, someone texts the group chat with an idea, someone else is not willing to go, and the plan falls apart. Here the assistants check availability and interests first, before an idea reaches the friends.
The network works only among trusted people, with different levels of access for different relationships. Spouses might share everything, while a colleague might share only a work calendar and certain parts of an inbox. A connection carries a level of trust the user picks.
For the six friends, that arrangement ended with one shared car instead of six separate trips. The pickup times were coordinated and the route was set to collect everyone efficiently. Shinn called it "very economically friendly."
Questions people ask
How do the assistants know what music the friends like?
The users connect their Spotify accounts, so the assistants can see listening history. They use that history to suggest concerts or shows the whole group might enjoy, alongside calendar availability and stated interests.
Do the assistants see everything on each other's calendars?
Not necessarily. Users choose different levels of access for different people. A spouse might get full access, while a friend or colleague might see only free times or a work calendar, and the system is designed to block requests beyond that permission.
Who pays for the shared Uber?
In the story Shinn told, one person ordered the car for the group and all six shared it, which made it economical. Uber itself allows fare splitting in its app, though Shinn did not say how these friends divided the cost.