Amazon blocks Meta’s Muse agent from shopping on users’ behalf

Amazon has barred Meta Platforms Inc.’s Muse artificial intelligence agent from accessing its e-commerce platform. The tech giant informed users of the decision via a statement on Sunday. Muse, available through a mobile app in the U.S. since earlier this month, quickly gained popularity, surpassing 730,000 downloads within five days.

This achievement made Muse the most downloaded free app on the App Store, surpassing both ChatGPT and Claude. By last Friday, Muse had also overtaken OpenAI Group PBC’s chatbot in popularity. Meta offers Muse for free, along with two paid versions featuring higher rate limits. The agent's success has caught investors' attention, as Meta's stock price rose by 11.43% following the announcement.

Major chip manufacturers, Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc., and Arm Holdings plc, also experienced double-digit stock gains. The rally in these companies' shares suggests Wall Street does not anticipate a significant impact from Amazon's ban on Muse. Amazon explained its decision in a statement to GeekWire, stating that the agent's failure to identify itself as an agent during transactions, and its ability to access customer data, contravenes its terms of service.

Specifically, Amazon noted that Muse can view user accounts and purchase history upon request, which the company deems as an "undisclosed third party moving through customer accounts." To address these concerns, Meta is developing an enhanced version of its Muse Secure VM, a security mechanism designed to isolate each Muse instance in a virtual machine, preventing unauthorized data access.

This improved technology, known as the Muse Confidential VM, is set to be released later this year after testing with a limited number of users.