business
Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet
Executives at roughly 50 companies say AI shopping agents such as Meta's Muse have had little effect on their businesses so far.
Key points
- More than 10 million people in the US and Canada have activated Muse, Zuckerberg said on the earnings call.
- Meta points to partnerships with 10 retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy and Gap, to simplify shopping with Muse.
- Chipotle found agents struggling to complete purchases due to loyalty discount and after-hours ordering problems.
Why it matters. If agent-based shopping grows, it could affect brand loyalty and corporate profits, though many executives say current activity is still very small.
Executives at roughly 50 companies told WIRED that AI shopping agents such as Muse have had little impact so far. DoorDash called agent orders "in the hundreds," while Hilton called bookings "insignificant." Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the US and Canada have activated Muse, and that Meta plans to charge businesses a fee for transactions it facilitates.
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Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet
Companies have spent the past several weeks trying to reassure investors that Muse and other AI agents pose more of an opportunity than a threat. Wall Street fears that proactive shopping assistants like Muse will erode brand loyalty, ignite price wars, and squeeze corporate profits. Yet on the earnings calls and in conversations with WIRED, executives across roughly 50 companies—spanning travel, internet providers, food, and self-storage—shrugged off immediate disruption. In fact, many insisted they would mostly benefit from any real widespread adoption of agents. Food delivery app DoorDash described the number of orders from Muse and other agents as in the “hundreds.” T-Mobile remarked, “We haven’t seen anything of significance” from agents. Hotel chain Hilton was more direct, calling bookings from them “insignificant.” The banking provider Ally Financial characterized activity as “quite low,” while eBay termed it “very, very small.” While financial experts have suspected that users may ask Muse to dump unused subscriptions and memberships, fitness chain Life Time Group said it has “seen zero” cancellations from agents. Public Storage and Hartford Insurance Group offered similar data. In India, the delivery app giant Eternal estimated agentic commerce as “close to zero.” The comments leave questions about where users of Muse, Instinct, and other popular AI agents are spending.