Companies say Meta’s Muse shopping agent is not moving sales yet

In short: Meta says its Muse AI agent is driving shopping, but many major companies tell investors they are seeing very little business from it so far.

What's going on

Meta’s Muse is an “AI agent,” which is like a digital helper that can try to do tasks for you online, such as searching for items and checking out. On recent earnings calls, Meta said more than 10 million people in the US and Canada had activated Muse. Meta also said that over 25 percent used it for shopping, and that Muse users were making purchases averaging more than $200.

But executives at many other companies painted a different picture. DoorDash said orders coming from Muse and other agents were only in the “hundreds.” T-Mobile said it had not seen anything significant, and Hilton called bookings “insignificant.” Ally Financial described activity as “quite low,” and eBay said it was “very, very small.”

Some companies also said they have not seen the wave of subscription cancellations that some analysts expected from AI agents. Life Time Group said it had seen zero cancellations from agents, and Public Storage and Hartford Insurance shared similar comments. In India, delivery app Eternal estimated “agentic commerce” was close to zero.

What to watch

Even with low reported activity, companies are starting to prepare for a future where AI agents shop more often. Chipotle said agents sometimes struggle with loyalty discounts or ordering after hours, so it is cleaning up parts of its website to make purchases easier. There are also open questions about fees and safety, since Meta has said it plans to charge businesses for transactions through Muse, and banks like Bank of America are warning customers to be careful about sharing login details with AI assistants.

Source: Wired