AI shopping assistants keep getting blocked by the stores they use

AI shopping assistants are being shut out by the stores they are supposed to shop at. Amazon sued Perplexity over its agent and then blocked Meta's Muse agent. A reporter at The Verge who tested Muse found it often hit walls, made odd picks and sometimes was slower than searching alone.

What changed

Meta, Google, OpenAI and others have launched agentic shopping tools. An agent is an AI program that takes actions for you, such as finding and buying a product. Demos show them booking flights and hotels or finding tickets. But a purchase needs a seller who is willing to deal with the agent, and some are not.

Amazon says Perplexity ignored its requests to stop its agent from shopping on the site. Amazon also confirmed it asked Meta to remove Amazon from Muse. Its spokesperson said outside apps that buy on customers' behalf should operate openly and respect each business's choice to take part.

Who else is saying no

The pushback goes beyond online stores. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank will not let outside agents into accounts, calling it too risky for clients and the company. Some users report they could not use agents to book trips with Delta and Amtrak.

Even sites with no ban can trip agents up. General bot-blocking systems, built to stop automated traffic, can catch them by mistake.

Spotty results in testing

• Muse was stopped by Target's bot check one day and got through the next.
• It suggested a grocery chain that does not ship to the reporter's address.
• On granola bars, it said Amazon might have the lowest price but it was blocked and could not check.
• After all the back and forth, searching by hand would likely have been faster.

Target says access can vary with how an agent goes about a task. It also says it has safeguards that stop unauthorized agents from reaching customer accounts or making purchases for a person. Target has AI shopping partnerships with OpenAI, Google and Microsoft.

A problem when agents work

The reporter also tried Muse on The RealReal, a secondhand luxury site. Adding an item to a cart holds it for 20 minutes, so no one else can buy it. Muse was told to add the 10 newest listings from a favorite brand and re-add them whenever the hold ran out. It kept going all day until the reporter stopped it. The reporter had no plan to buy anything.

What to do

Treat these agents as a helper that can miss things, not a replacement for your own search. Expect missing stores, and note that Amazon may be absent. Check prices yourself before you buy, and read any note the agent gives about what it could not see.