Amazon shows Meta's Muse AI shopping agent the door

Retailer cites credentials and transparency concerns while guarding its lucrative customer journey

Amazon has blocked Meta's new Muse AI agent from shopping on its website, apparently deciding that having someone else's bot wandering through customer accounts and placing orders is a step too far.

The ecommerce giant cut off Muse after unsuccessfully asking Meta to prevent the personal AI agent from accessing its store, GeekWire reported. Users who try anyway are told that access by an "unauthorized AI agent" violates Amazon's Conditions of Use.

The Register asked Muse to find the "best-reviewed ergonomic office chair," add it to our cart, and proceed to the final checkout screen.

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Muse reported: "Hit a snag: Amazon is showing an anti-bot wall that blocks automated browsers outright – the browser couldn't even get to the search page, so no chair was found or added. I didn't push past it, since the notice says continuing would violate Amazon's terms."

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Meta launched Muse in the US earlier this month as an agent capable of doing more than answering questions. It can act on a user's behalf by shopping, making payments, reading emails, and managing calendars. When a service does not provide a public API, Meta says Muse can operate it through a browser much as a human would.

Amazon is not keen on that arrangement.

The retailer told GeekWire that Meta had neither informed it that Muse would access the store nor obtained authorization. It also claimed that the agent fails to identify itself while browsing and appears to capture and store customer credentials. Amazon said Muse could also access account information, including a customer's order history, when instructed to do so.

Meta says the Muse model cannot see users' passwords or payment methods. Credentials are instead held in secure storage and made available for authentication without being exposed to the model. The Register has asked both companies for further comment.

Account security is not the only issue at stake. Amazon has spent much of the past year trying to keep rival AI agents away from its storefront. It took Perplexity to court over the Comet browser and has also moved to block shopping agents from Google and OpenAI.

Amazon, of course, has shopping agents of its own. Alexa for Shopping researches products and makes recommendations, while Buy for Me purchases goods from other retailers' websites on a customer's behalf. Amazon says the latter identifies itself to those retailers and allows them to opt out.

The company also has a financial reason to control the shopping trip: advertising. Amazon generated more than $68 billion in advertising revenue last year, helped by shoppers visiting its properties and viewing the products and sponsored placements displayed there. If outside AI agents take over product discovery, comparison, and purchasing, fewer shoppers may see Amazon's advertising or interact with its recommendation systems.

Amazon is all-in on agentic shopping – provided it is Amazon's agent holding the credit card. ®