AI agents are finally ready to shop for you — but some of the biggest retailers in America don’t want them in the store. Amazon is blocking outside shopping assistants outright, while Target, banks, and airlines are all restricting what AI agents can do on their platforms.
AI shopping assistant (Credits: The Verge)
Why Amazon and Other Retailers Are Blocking AI Shopping Agents
According to reporting by The Verge, Amazon has blocked Meta’s Muse assistant from shopping on customers’ behalf and sent a cease-and-desist to Perplexity over its Comet shopping agents accessing Amazon’s site. Users also reported that xAI’s Grok was blocked from ordering on Amazon, prompting Elon Musk to joke that he “should start a competitor to Amazon.” Amazon argues that third parties buying items for customers “should operate openly and respect service provider decisions,” while Perplexity counters the objection is commercial — assistant users may never see Amazon’s sponsored products.
Amazon isn’t alone. Delta Air Lines is preventing agents from booking tickets, and Yelp allows only agents that pay for its data licensing program. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned on the bank’s October 13 earnings call about “rogue agents,” saying “we’re not going to allow just any outside agent to come in inside the company because that’s just too risky for clients.”
Walmart Takes the Opposite Bet on AI Agents
Meanwhile, Walmart is doing the reverse: on October 21 it announced Agent Profiles, an Agent Gateway, and strict terms for AI agents shopping at Walmart and Sam’s Club. Each agent gets its own profile, purchases show separately, customers approve every purchase or set spending limits, and agents never get payment card details. Rule-breakers are blocked outright. Target, per PYMNTS reporting, is permitting only approved providers.
The split defines the next era of e-commerce: assistants that can click a button don’t automatically have permission to do so — and retailers will decide who gets a key to the store.
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Source: The Verge — read the full story there.