Meta held its Connect conference on 23–24 September, where it unveiled new hardware - including a dedicated Muse Charm device - building Muse further into its product line. A few weeks prior to this, the company behind Facebook announced Muse, a personal AI agent and agentic software. Unlike standard chatbots, Muse can actively perform tasks and workflows on your behalf.
One of these capabilities allows Muse to browse and buy from e-commerce stores on your behalf. However, Amazon, one of the world’s largest retailers, has blocked Muse from being able to do this on its platform. Amazon started blocking the agent from 20th September due to it not identifying itself while browsing, and due to concerns that it may store the user’s login credentials.
Meta has pushed back, saying Muse doesn’t have visibility of passwords or payment details, and that it asks before making any purchases.
Meta Muse has only rolled out in the US so far - it’s not available here in the UK yet - so this post is based on what we’ve seen happen there. Given that Amazon operates worldwide, it’s likely trying to get ahead of the situation before Muse reaches other markets. Amazon has also shifted its position, now claiming AI agents are breaking its terms of service more broadly.
This isn’t an entirely new fight - Amazon previously sued Perplexity over its Comet AI agent shopping on Amazon, and won an initial court order blocking it back in March. But Perplexity appealed, and in August a federal appeals court sided with Perplexity, ruling it’s the user, not the AI agent, who’s actually accessing Amazon’s site when it shops on their behalf. So the last time this exact fight reached a court, Amazon lost.
Meta has partnered with several brands to allow direct agentic shopping, including Shopify, Walmart, and PayPal.
This probably won’t be the last we’ve heard of this. Will Meta and Amazon come to an agreement they’re both happy with, that will allow Muse to shop on Amazon? Or will Amazon continue to block this type of shopping on its platform?
For my perspective, I’m glad Amazon is taking this stance. Not because I don’t think allowing an AI to shop for you is okay, but it’s more around third-party services using your account to perform tasks, especially when they hold your payment details. I’m pretty sure Alexa can perform shopping tasks for you, but for me, I’d be more comfortable using that as it’s all part of Amazon’s own ecosystem. I’m supportive of Amazon taking a stance for now because these technologies are advancing so rapidly, and sometimes I feel as though things need a lot more testing before public release, as they’re performing all these actions for you. And are you covered if the agent makes a purchase on your behalf that you didn’t intend to make? Is “my AI ordered it by mistake” a good refund reason?
A lot to think about, but keen to hear your views. Are you excited about Muse? Do you think Amazon should allow it access?