Meta Muse AI agent: Why Amazon blocked it and why hackers are now a concern

Meta’s Muse is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about consumer AI agents but its rapid rise has already run into a major roadblock.

The AI agent has climbed to the top of US mobile app charts, attracted hundreds of thousands of users and helped fuel a rally in Meta shares. Then Amazon blocked Muse from accessing its shopping site, saying the agent was unauthorised and raised privacy and security concerns. At the same time, a security researcher has reported a vulnerability that could potentially allow an attacker to gain access to a Muse authentication token. The developments highlight a much bigger question: how much control should AI agents have over our digital lives?

What can Meta’s Muse actually do?

Muse is designed to go beyond answering questions. The agent can navigate a user's email, calendar, payments, shopping, travel, dining and other services to complete tasks on their behalf. That can include filling forms, organising inboxes, booking travel, creating grocery lists and making purchases. Unlike traditional chatbots, Muse is therefore being positioned as a consumer-facing AI agent that can take action rather than simply provide information. Its popularity has grown rapidly. According to Sensor Tower data cited in the supplied report, Muse was downloaded more than 900,000 times in its first six days and later surpassed 2.6 million cumulative downloads across iOS and Android.

Why did Amazon block Muse?

Amazon says Muse was accessing its shopping platform without advance notice from Meta. The company accused the agent of potentially bypassing features built into Amazon's shopping experience and raising concerns around customer credentials and account data. Amazon said third-party agents should respect the decisions of websites and services about whether they want to participate.

The dispute points to a coming battle over agentic commerce. If users increasingly tell an AI agent to shop, book restaurants or arrange travel, websites may no longer interact directly with the customer. Instead, the agent becomes the middleman. That could fundamentally change how online businesses operate.

The security question

Privacy is not the only concern.

Security researcher Patrick Wardle reportedly discovered a zero-day vulnerability that could potentially allow another application or terminal command to access a token used to authenticate a user's Muse account. He said an attacker could potentially exploit the agent's existing privileges rather than building separate malware. The reported vulnerability does not mean Muse users have been broadly hacked. But it highlights the unusually high security demands placed on AI agents that can access email, messages, files and other personal services.

Meta has said Muse was designed with privacy and security in mind. The bigger challenge is becoming clear: the more an AI agent can do for you, the more dangerous it could become if that access is misused.