AI agents are about to book appointments with your business
Consumer AI agents that work by text message can email your front desk and book services, but they miss details hidden in pop-ups.
What happened
The Verge reports that a new wave of AI agents is reaching everyday consumers. An AI agent is software that can take steps on its own, like filling out a form or emailing an office. Reviewer Allison Johnson tested one called Instinct, along with Meta's Muse and OpenAI's Dots.
According to The Verge, you talk to Instinct by text, through iMessage, WhatsApp or email. In Johnson's testing, it emailed her eye doctor's office to set up an appointment and did the online paperwork to start an Ikea return.
It also stumbled. The Verge writes that Johnson asked it to find swimming lessons at a neighborhood community center. The times and dates checked out, but it missed that the center requires a prerequisite class for kids in preschool-age lessons. She notes that sometimes a crucial piece of information is hiding in a pop-up window.
Why it matters
Johnson's lesson, as she writes in The Verge, is that agents are great with a clean set of data, but the internet was made by humans, and "often the data sucks." She also notes that these agents can plug into a person's email and calendar. In other words, a customer could point one at your business and let it do the legwork.
It's reasonable to expect more customers to hand chores like finding your hours or booking a visit to a tool like this. If your key details are buried, the agent may get them wrong or skip them. A wrong answer can mean a confused customer, or one who quietly moves on to a competitor with clearer information.
This is still early. According to The Verge, Instinct is invite-only, and you need an invitation from a current user or approval from a waitlist. Avi Greengart, an analyst at Techsponential, says in the same piece that agents are largely being used by early adopters right now. But the habit of "ask the assistant to handle it" is starting now.
What it means for your business
- Clinics and dental offices: Put new-patient requirements, accepted insurance and how to book on one plain page, not inside a pop-up or a PDF.
- Restaurants: Keep hours, reservation rules and large-party policies as regular text on your site, and update them when they change.
- Fitness and education studios: If a class has a prerequisite, a waiver or an age rule, say so right next to the class listing. That is exactly the kind of detail Johnson's agent missed.
- Local service businesses and retail: List services, starting prices, service areas and return steps in simple sentences a stranger could follow.
One thing to try this week
Open your website on your phone and pretend you're a stranger. Try to find your hours, your prices, any requirements and the way to book, in under a minute. Anything you can only find after closing a pop-up or opening a file, copy into plain text on the main page.