Amazon has denied customers access to its Web store when they use Muse AI, Meta’s latest AI agent, while shopping. This comes after Meta refused to stop the agent being used on Amazon.
Consumers who try to use Muse AI on Amazon now receive an automatic message stating that the “continued access by an unauthorised AI agent is in violation of Amazon’s terms of use, which our customers have agreed to”.
Meta introduced Muse AI earlier this month. The AI agent is intended to help users with everyday tasks such as sending e-mails, booking flights, shows and restaurants, and following recipes.
To carry out these tasks, the agent can connect directly to third party services, including Gmail, Ticketmaster and Shopify.
However, Amazon, which develops and deploys its own AI agents, does not allow external AI agents to access its web store or make purchases there. The company actively blocks such agents from navigating its platform.
Before Amazon blocked Muse, it had asked Meta to keep its website out of the AI agent’s reach.
Shopping via AI agents is still in its infancy and is so far rarely used by consumers. AI agents are mainly used to research products, after which consumers themselves decide what to buy.
Blocking external AI agents is unlikely to have much impact on Amazon’s total sales. The issue does, however, show that a battle is emerging among AI developers for access to heavily visited online consumer platforms. This could also change how consumers shop online in the future.
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