AIAI assistants and the battle to own the customer relationship
Clouded Judgement argues that personal AI assistants could become the place people book trips and shop, pushing today's customer-facing platforms into back-end roles and shifting profits toward the assistants.
TLDR
Clouded Judgement says Expedia announced a partnership with Meta's Muse assistant, while Amazon blocked it. The essay frames those moves as opposing approaches to the “interaction layer”—the place where customers take action. It argues that assistants will increasingly control that layer, with challengers embracing them to gain market share and eventually forcing incumbents to follow. Beyond shopping and travel, the essay suggests agents could threaten businesses that benefit when customers leave subscriptions running, pay questionable bills or avoid shopping around for insurance.
AI assistants and the battle to own the customer relationship
Clouded Judgement argues that personal AI assistants could become the place people book trips and shop, pushing today's customer-facing platforms into back-end roles and shifting profits toward the assistants.
TLDR
Clouded Judgement says Expedia announced a partnership with Meta's Muse assistant, while Amazon blocked it. The essay frames those moves as opposing approaches to the “interaction layer”—the place where customers take action. It argues that assistants will increasingly control that layer, with challengers embracing them to gain market share and eventually forcing incumbents to follow. Beyond shopping and travel, the essay suggests agents could threaten businesses that benefit when customers leave subscriptions running, pay questionable bills or avoid shopping around for insurance.