Meta’s Muse AI Agent Shows Early Adoption but Companies Remain Skeptical

Meta’s Muse, the agentic AI tool that lets users automate online tasks, has already attracted more than 10 million activated users in the United States and Canada, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Over a quarter of those users employ Muse for shopping, spending an average of more than $200 per transaction – a figure that exceeds the company’s internal forecasts. Despite the buzz, executives from roughly 50 firms spanning travel, telecom, food delivery and self‑storage uniformly downplayed any immediate disruption. DoorDash reported only “hundreds” of orders generated by Muse, T‑Mobile said it has seen “nothing of significance,” and Hilton dismissed agent‑driven bookings as “insignificant.” Similar statements came from Ally Financial, eBay, Life Time Group and India’s Eternal, all describing agent‑originated activity as “very, very small” or “close to zero.” Meta has forged partnerships with ten retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy and Gap, to streamline the checkout experience for Muse users. While most of those partners have yet to release post‑launch data, the collaboration signals Meta’s ambition to embed its AI assistant deep within e‑commerce ecosystems. Companies are already tweaking their digital storefronts to accommodate agents. Chipotle’s chief digital officer, Arlie Sisson, noted that Muse‑driven orders rose by a single‑digit percentage but often stumbled over loyalty‑discount logic and after‑hours ordering, prompting a code‑cleanup. Doordash, Costco and Extra Space Storage are undertaking similar optimizations, hoping to capture the nascent wave of AI‑mediated sales. Looking ahead, Meta plans to monetize Muse by charging merchants a transaction fee, a revenue stream Zuckerberg predicts could eventually eclipse the firm’s massive advertising business. Yet security concerns linger: Bank of America warned customers against sharing credentials with AI assistants, and Amazon briefly blocked Muse before signaling a possible future partnership. The industry’s cautious stance underscores that, while Muse’s early adoption is promising, widespread commercial impact remains a work in progress.