Meta’s Muse AI Agent Tests Who Controls Digital Distribution

Meta launched Muse on September 8 as a personal AI agent that does more than answer questions. It can open a browser, fill out forms and negotiate on a user’s behalf, and it keeps working after the app is closed.

Shopping introduces another requirement: Muse needs a user’s approval before making a purchase, but it also needs a way to pay. At launch, that was Link, Stripe’s agent wallet, which generates a one-time card number. Shop Pay was listed as coming soon.

Muse’s first two weeks of shopping were therefore less about what the agent can do and more about who decides whether it may stand between a business and its customers. This is a media question as much as a retail one.

ForbesMeta Launches Muse Personal AI Agent As Staff Flag Security FlawsBy Gabriel Alin Zainescu

Shopify Brings Shop Pay To Meta’s Muse AI Agent

Shopify opened its stores to Muse, which Meta said launched with access to Shopify’s full catalog. On September 21, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke said on X the company was “partnering deeply with Muse to enable agentic checkout with Shop Pay on all Shopify stores.” Two days later, Shopify announced that Shop Pay was now available as a wallet in Muse.

Meta was also expanding Muse’s retail reach and at its Connect event on September 23, it named Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, Ulta and Wayfair among the retailers it is adding.

Amazon Blocks Meta’s Muse AI Agent From Its Store

Amazon did the opposite. It blocked Muse from browsing and buying on its site. In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said third-party applications that buy on customers’ behalf “should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about whether or not to participate,” and that Amazon had asked Meta to remove Amazon from the experience.

Meta’s safety documentation, published before the dispute, describes how Muse shops. Credentials a user enters are held in secure storage the agent cannot see and are inserted into the browser when needed.

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