Meta's Muse AI Agent Stirs Corporate Debate Despite Modest Sales
Meta's agentic AI tool Muse is generating Wall Street anxiety over brand loyalty and price wars, yet corporate earnings show minimal immediate disruption.
Meta’s agentic AI system, known as Muse, has quickly become a prominent talking point during recent corporate earnings discussions. Designed to help users automate various online tasks, Meta reports that the tool is turning into a significant driver in digital shopping. According to the company, millions of people have used the assistant to complete purchases averaging over $200. This traction has fueled Wall Street anxieties, with financial experts warning that proactive AI shopping assistants could weaken brand loyalty, trigger intense price wars, and compress corporate profit margins.
Despite these looming concerns, executives across approximately 50 different businesses—including internet providers, travel companies, food services, and self-storage firms—have largely dismissed the idea of immediate disruption. In interviews and earnings reports, many corporate leaders instead argue that they stand to benefit if agent-driven commerce becomes widely adopted over time.
Early Numbers and Corporate Reactions
Actual transaction figures reported by major brands present a very different picture from the broader hype. Food delivery platform DoorDash reported that order volumes originating from Muse and similar agents remain in the hundreds. T-Mobile stated that it has observed nothing of significance, while hotel operator Hilton described bookings generated by agents as insignificant.
Other sectors echo this sentiment. Financial services provider Ally Financial noted that activity levels are quite low, and eBay characterized agent traffic as very, very small. While financial analysts previously speculated that users might leverage tools like Muse to cancel unused memberships and subscriptions, fitness chain Life Time Group reported seeing zero cancellations driven by agents. Similar trends were shared by Public Storage and Hartford Insurance Group, while Indian delivery giant Eternal estimated that its agentic commerce volume is close to zero.
These modest figures raise questions regarding where the users activating these tools are spending their funds. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently shared that over 10 million individuals in the US and Canada have activated Muse. More than a quarter of those users utilized the system for shopping purposes, surpassing internal company expectations. Meta also highlighted retail partnerships with 10 major brands, including Gap, Best Buy, and Walmart, aimed at streamlining the shopping experience.
Preparing Infrastructure for AI Agents
Even though current usage remains in early stages, corporate awareness is growing. Chipotle chief digital officer Arlie Sisson noted that the restaurant chain found AI agents occasionally struggling to finalize orders due to technical friction points, such as applying loyalty discounts or ordering outside of standard hours. Although Muse's introduction yielded only a single-digit percentage increase in orders, Chipotle is actively cleaning up its website code to help AI assistants navigate platforms more smoothly.
Developers looking to build applications or integrate these workflows can try top AI models cheaply through one API at https://apixoai.online. Similar technical evaluations are happening at DoorDash, even though CEO Tony Xu suggested that current market enthusiasm around agents might be somewhat overblown.
Security Concerns and Strategic Shifts
Monetization strategies and security risks also complicate the landscape. Zuckerberg mentioned that Meta intends to charge businesses transaction fees for purchases facilitated by Muse, projecting this revenue stream could eventually surpass the company's advertising business. However, major institutions are raising safety flags. Bank of America recently cautioned clients against sharing login credentials with AI assistants, reminding customers that they remain liable for any account activity resulting from such access.
Corporate strategies continue to shift. Amazon initially blocked Muse last month in favor of its own Alexa shopping agent, but later reversed course to state it anticipates working with outside agents. Similarly, insurance marketplace Insurify blocked the tool before updating its technology to ensure accurate offer presentations, allowing it to reconsider integration.
Source: Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet — Wired AI. Written by the Apixo team from that report.
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