We’ve apparently reached the stage of the AI revolution where robots are getting kicked out of stores.
Not physical stores, thankfully.
The latest fight is between Amazon and Meta, and at the centre of it is Muse, Meta’s new AI agent.
Unlike a conventional chatbot, an AI agent is designed to go beyond answering questions. Give it a task and, in certain situations, it can navigate websites and carry out actions on your behalf.
That includes shopping.
Or at least, it did on Amazon.
Amazon has blocked Muse from shopping on Amazon.com, arguing that Meta’s agent did not have authorization to access the platform in the way it was doing.
Users trying to send Muse shopping began encountering a message saying Amazon had detected an unauthorized AI agent and that the activity violated its terms.
Amazon has also raised concerns about how Muse identifies itself while browsing and what information an AI agent could potentially encounter while operating inside a customer’s account.
Meta disputes parts of Amazon’s characterization. The company says sensitive credentials such as passwords and payment details are securely stored rather than exposed directly to Muse.
On the surface, this sounds like two enormous tech companies arguing about terms of service.
The bigger question is much more interesting.
AI companies increasingly imagine a future where you don’t search for a flight, compare 14 tabs and eventually book one yourself. You tell an agent what you want and it handles the boring parts.
Shopping is an obvious next step.
But the internet was built for humans navigating websites — not thousands of AI assistants roaming through them, comparing products, buying things and potentially bypassing the interfaces businesses designed for us.
There’s an extra layer of awkwardness here: Amazon is building AI shopping tools of its own.
So the battle isn’t simply about whether AI should shop.
It may eventually become a battle over whose AI gets to shop where.
Your future personal assistant might be incredibly capable.
Apparently, it can still get told to leave.
