Amazon has blocked Meta's Muse personal AI agent from shopping on Amazon.com, the retailer told GeekWire. Amazon said it took the step after unsuccessfully asking Meta to remove the store from Muse's shopping experience. People trying to use the agent there saw a notice warning that access by an unauthorized AI agent violated Amazon's Conditions of Use.
Muse is designed to do online tasks for a user, including browsing stores and making purchases with approval. In its Sept. 8 launch announcement, Meta said the agent can open a browser and fill out forms when carrying out those requests. That ability puts it in the middle of a dispute over whether a customer's permission is enough for an automated assistant to use a retailer's site.
Amazon questions how Muse accesses accounts
Amazon told GeekWire that Meta had not informed it that Muse would visit the store, that the agent did not identify itself while browsing, and that it appeared to capture and store customer credentials. The retailer said those practices could create privacy and security risks. These are Amazon's assertions, not independently established findings about how Muse handles passwords.
Meta did not immediately respond to GeekWire's request for comment on Sunday night. Its earlier description of Muse's safeguards says the agent cannot see passwords or payment methods and that credentials a user supplies are kept in secure storage. Amazon told GeekWire it was speaking directly with Meta about the issue.
The block was visible beyond Amazon's statement. The Register tried asking Muse to find a chair on Amazon and reported that the agent hit an anti-bot wall before reaching search, so it could not add anything to a cart. For shoppers, the immediate limit is narrower and concrete: Muse could not complete that Amazon shopping task, even though Meta markets it as an agent that can shop across the web.
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