Meta's Muse AI personal agent has topped Apple's App Store and sent Meta's stock up more than 20% since launch, but Amazon has blocked the agent from its platform, citing terms-of-service violations — a conflict that analysts say may define the future of agentic commerce.
Meta's new Muse AI personal agent has shot to the top of Apple's App Store since its introduction, eclipsing ChatGPT, while the company's stock has climbed more than 20% in the two weeks following its launch — even as Amazon has moved to block the agent from making purchases on its platform.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stage Wednesday at Meta's annual Connect developer conference to tout Muse's early traction, calling the agent the "centerpiece" of the company's efforts to make AI more accessible beyond technical users. "In the coming years, I expect that Muse is going to grow into the personal superintelligence that billions of people around the world are going to use to accomplish their goals and improve their lives," Zuckerberg said.
Muse is designed to book appointments and travel, fill out electronic forms, monitor home security cameras, and shop on a user's behalf by searching for products across various sites and marketplaces, then routing payments through Shopify or Stripe.
Amazon has said that shopping capability crosses a line. The company blocked Muse from purchasing products on its e-commerce platform, citing a violation of its terms of service. In a statement, Amazon said that "third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers from other businesses should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about whether or not to participate." Meta declined to comment.
Amazon has taken similar stances before. The company sued startup Perplexity in November, alleging it took steps to conceal its AI agents so they could continue to scrape Amazon's website without approval. Amazon has also blocked agentic tools from OpenAI and Google.
Matthew Hassett, CEO of smart alarm clock company Loftie and AI-focused e-commerce startup Deliberate, characterized Amazon's stance plainly. Amazon's "whole model is fiercely guarding the customer relationship," Hassett said, adding that "'Respect service provider decisions' is the polite version of 'not on our shelf.'"
Max Willens, an analyst at Emarketer, noted that Amazon's resistance reflects a structural anxiety about shifting consumer behavior. "For many years, Amazon was the place most U.S. consumers went first if they wanted to buy something online," Willens said. "Today, those consumers are increasingly starting those shopper journeys with AI assistants."
Not all retailers share Amazon's reluctance. Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang announced at Connect that Muse has signed on partners including Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, and Wayfair. "Personal agents are going to continue delivering on that promise for a new generation of shoppers, and they're going to help them discover products they love and get great deals too," Wang said.
The launch has unsettled investors in adjacent industries. Shares of financial services companies including Charles Schwab and LPL Financial Holdings fell on Tuesday, while travel platforms Booking Holdings and Expedia dropped on Wednesday, reflecting concern that AI agents are beginning to disintermediate entire sectors.
Privacy skepticism also lingers. Joseph Turow, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on digital media and privacy, said adoption will likely be uneven. "People are going to be very wary," Turow said. "Some people are going to dip their toes into it, and some people are going to accept it for particular companies that they trust."
Meta's push into agentic AI also comes amid broader industry tension. Anthropic and OpenAI have called for a slowdown in the pace of model development amid intensifying concerns about advanced AI exceeding human control. Separately, Meta agreed last month to pay up to $17 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by a group of states alleging the company misrepresented the mental health harms caused by Facebook and Instagram.
Whether Muse's early momentum translates into lasting consumer trust — particularly given Meta's history with user data — will likely determine how far Amazon's current stance shapes the broader agentic AI market.
Marc Sabatini is a staff writer at TechEchelon covering enterprise software, cybersecurity, and the regulatory beats that shape both. He focuses on the deal flow and policy decisions that move markets.
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