Meta’s Muse Has Millions of Users, But Businesses Aren’t Convinced Yet

Meta’s Muse has reached more than 10 million users since its release in early September, but its arrival has not yet transformed the businesses it aims to serve. The personal AI agent can connect with calendars, emails, and other phone functions to manage groceries, plans, purchases, and other tasks for users.

Shopping has become Muse’s most common use. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said this month that more than 10 million people in the United States and Canada had activated the assistant, with more than 25 percent using it for shopping. The average purchase tops $200, which Meta says puts Muse at the center of a new kind of online commerce.

Big promises meet small business impact

Meta has presented Muse as a major force in shopping, and Zuckerberg has predicted that transaction fees from businesses could eventually become larger than Meta’s massive advertising business. That vision has made investors and executives pay attention, especially because proactive shopping assistants could weaken brand loyalty, trigger price wars, and squeeze profits.

For now, business leaders across roughly 50 companies in travel, internet services, food, and self-storage describe a much smaller effect. DoorDash said orders from Muse and other agents number in the “hundreds.” T-Mobile said, “We haven’t seen anything of significance,” while Hilton called bookings from Muse “insignificant.”

Ally Financial described activity as “quite low,” and eBay called it “very, very small.” Life Time Group said it has “seen zero” cancellations from agents, with Public Storage and Hartford Insurance Group offering similar data. Eternal, a delivery app giant in India, estimated agentic commerce as “close to zero.”

Many executives also rejected the idea that agents will automatically damage profits by comparing products and prices. They said product quality, customer service, and brand trust will still shape buying decisions even when people play a smaller role in each transaction.

Retailers are learning what agents can and cannot do

Muse’s early use has exposed practical problems. Chipotle chief digital officer Arlie Sisson said agents struggled to complete purchases when loyalty discounts caused hiccups or when customers tried to order after hours. Muse’s debut lifted agentic orders by a single-digit percentage, and Chipotle is cleaning up its website code so agents can navigate it more easily and complete orders for customers.

Other companies are preparing for a larger shift. Costco and Extra Space Storage said sales that begin with AI chatbots such as Gemini and ChatGPT are surging as they adjust their online content for those tools. Both companies plan to make similar changes for AI agents.

Walmart has taken a direct step by creating a Personal Agent Protocol and an Agent Gateway to support secure agentic shopping. Meta also points to partnerships with 10 retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy, and Gap, as evidence that businesses are preparing to work with Muse. Many of those retailers last reported earnings before Muse launched and have not yet shared data about its effect.

Travel companies remain cautious. InterContinental Hotels CEO Elie Maalouf said, “We haven't come to any conclusions on what an eventual collaboration could look like, if any,” showing that partnerships with agents are still under discussion rather than settled business practice.

Amazon draws a line while building its own agent

Amazon blocked Muse last month with an anti-bot wall, arguing that users would prefer its own shopping agent, “Alexa for shopping.” Amazon said in September that Muse’s access violated the conditions of use its customers had agreed to, and it disputed Meta’s security claims while developing its own shopping agents.

This week, Amazon acknowledged that it expects to work with outside agents. CEO Andy Jassy told investors Thursday that few customers are buying through outside shopping agents because the experience is “still not great, nor more convenient than coming to a retailer directly.” He also said outside agents were not responsible for Amazon’s weaker-than-expected advertising performance during its third quarter.

Amazon’s own numbers show why the company wants to keep control of this market. Jassy said more than 400 million customers used Alexa for shopping in the last year, while “customer interactions” grew 570% year over year. Customers in the United States who use Amazon’s shopping agent spend 50% more per order than those who do not.

Amazon is not the only company changing its position. Insurance marketplace Insurify blocked Muse but changed its mind this week after adding technology that lets agents present accurate offers. The moves by Amazon and Insurify show that companies are testing a middle ground: keep control of the customer experience while making room for agents that can meet security and accuracy requirements.

Trust and access remain major questions

Companies still need to decide how much access an agent should receive. Bank of America became the latest major bank this week to warn customers about sharing login information with AI assistants. Ashley Ross wrote in an email, “If you do share your credentials, keep in mind that you're responsible for activity resulting from that access,” placing responsibility for any resulting activity on the customer.

Meta is also trying to make Muse feel less intimidating. The company introduced Jolly, a Labubu-esque mascot for the assistant. Big technology companies are using cute avatars to lower psychological barriers around AI agents as public trust declines; only twenty percent of people in the United States feel confident in large technology companies, and sixty-seven percent view Zuckerberg unfavorably. OpenAI has also launched colorful mascots for its AI agents.

Supporters say agents can handle mundane tasks, while critics see friendly mascots as a softer face for technology seeking sensitive data. Zuckerberg has acknowledged that Muse is still early, saying, “Obviously, not everyone wants to be an early adopter. That’s fine,” and adding, “We’ll work with folks on the terms that makes sense for them.”

Meta board member and DoorDash CEO Tony Xu offered a harsher assessment, saying the current hype around agents might be “delusional.” Muse has users, partnerships, and purchases behind it, but the companies that would feel the biggest change still describe its business impact in terms like “hundreds,” “very, very small,” and “close to zero.”

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