Amazon Blocks Meta Muse While Shopify Embraces AI Shopping

MarketWatch reported that Amazon is blocking Meta’s Muse artificial intelligence agent from completing shopping transactions. This move contrasts with Shopify’s simultaneous decision to integrate the tool with its Shop Pay system. The divergence highlights a split over how autonomous AI agents will access e-commerce payment rails.

Shopify shares increased by 7% on Monday after the announcement. The company stated it would collaborate with Meta to provide payment functionality for purchases driven by Muse across all Shopify stores.

“We are excited to announce we are partnering deeply with Muse to enable agentic checkout with Shop Pay on all Shopify stores,” Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke wrote on X.

Amazon’s reaction centered on the rights of individual merchants to decide whether to join third-party purchasing services. “We think it’s fairly straightforward 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,” an Amazon spokesperson told MarketWatch.

The dispute centers on whether AI agents will function as a channel for existing payment infrastructure or replace it. Amazon generates about 10% of its total revenue from advertising, a stream that might be reduced if agents avoid traditional storefront browsing. Jeff Wlodarczak, an analyst at Pivotal Research, noted that Amazon’s block of Muse indicates autonomous agents could disrupt shopping-related advertising. Bhavin Shah, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, suggested the partnership helps counter concerns that AI agents might disintermediate Shopify’s payments business.