Meta Muse’s Impact on Businesses by 2026

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Meta Muse could reshape retail dynamics by 2026

  • Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the US and Canada had activated Muse, and that over 25% used it for shopping, according to WIRED.
  • Meta has said Muse users are making purchases of more than $200 on average, according to WIRED.
  • On earnings calls, executives at companies from DoorDash to Hilton described current agent-driven orders and bookings as “hundreds” or “insignificant,” according to WIRED.
  • Zuckerberg said Meta plans to charge businesses a fee for transactions facilitated by Muse, according to WIRED.

How is Meta’s Muse transforming online shopping?

Meta positions Muse as an “agentic” assistant: software that doesn’t just answer questions, but can carry out tasks across the web. According to WIRED, Meta has claimed Muse is becoming a major force in shopping, with “millions of people” using it to make purchases—and purchases averaging more than $200.

The practical shift is less about a new storefront and more about a new interface. Instead of a shopper bouncing between search, product pages, carts, and checkout flows, an agent can compress that journey into a conversation and a set of automated steps. That changes what “good e-commerce” looks like: sites and apps aren’t only designed for humans to browse, they’re increasingly expected to be navigable by software acting on a human’s behalf.

Some companies are already treating that as an engineering problem. Chipotle chief digital officer Arlie Sisson said the chain found agents struggling to complete purchases because of hiccups applying loyalty discounts or ordering after-hours, according to WIRED. Sisson said Muse’s debut increased agentic orders by a single-digit percentage, and Chipotle is now tidying up its website code so agents can better navigate the ordering process, WIRED reported.

Meta has also pointed to retailer partnerships intended to reduce friction.

WIRED reported that Meta pointed to partnerships with 10 retailers—including Walmart, Best Buy, and Gap—to simplify shopping with Muse, while noting that many of those retailers last reported earnings before Muse launched and haven’t shared data about it yet. After WIRED reported Meta declined to comment beyond earnings-call remarks, the company pointed to partnerships with 10 retailers—including Walmart, Best Buy, and Gap—to simplify shopping with Muse. The bet is straightforward: if agents become a common way to shop, the winners won’t only be the brands with the best products, but the brands whose systems are easiest for agents to transact with.

What concerns do businesses have about AI shopping assistants like Muse?

Wall Street’s worry is that proactive shopping assistants could weaken the forces that let brands charge more than the lowest available price. According to WIRED, investors fear agents like Muse could erode brand loyalty, ignite price wars, and squeeze corporate profits by making comparison shopping effortless and constant.

Businesses also have more immediate operational concerns: security, fraud, and plain-old mistakes. WIRED reported that “security issues and errant orders remain top of mind.” In that context, Bank of America warned customers about sharing login information with AI assistants. “If you do share your credentials, keep in mind that you’re responsible for activity resulting from that access,” chief client care officer Ashley Ross wrote in an email, according to WIRED. For merchants, that warning hints at a messy question: when an agent misfires—buys the wrong item, cancels the wrong subscription, ships to the wrong address—who eats the cost?

Another concern is dependency on gatekeepers. WIRED reported Amazon blocked Muse last month, arguing users would prefer Amazon’s own Alexa shopping agent, before later acknowledging it anticipates working with outside agents. That kind of platform push-and-pull matters because agents only work where they’re allowed to operate. If major retailers or marketplaces restrict automated browsing and purchasing, an agent’s promise becomes uneven—powerful on some sites, unusable on others.

Accuracy and representation are also at stake. WIRED reported that insurance marketplace Insurify blocked Muse but changed its mind after introducing technology to ensure agents could present accurate offers. That illustrates a broader business fear: an agent might summarize pricing, availability, or terms incorrectly, and the customer may blame the business whose products were being “shopped,” not the agent doing the shopping.

Finally, there’s the strategic concern: even if agents drive incremental sales, they may also shift bargaining power. If an agent becomes the customer’s primary interface, brands risk being reduced to interchangeable suppliers behind a layer they don’t control.

What do executives say about the impact of Muse on their companies?

For all the hype, many executives are signaling that Muse-driven commerce is still small in their own numbers. According to WIRED, executives across roughly 50 companies—spanning travel, internet providers, food, and self-storage—largely shrugged off immediate disruption and often argued they could benefit if agents become mainstream.

The specifics were blunt. DoorDash described the number of orders from Muse and other agents as in the “hundreds,” according to WIRED. T-Mobile said, “We haven’t seen anything of significance,” WIRED reported. Hilton called bookings from agents “insignificant,” according to WIRED. Ally Financial characterized activity as “quite low,” and eBay called it “very, very small,” WIRED reported. In India, delivery app giant Eternal estimated agentic commerce as “close to zero,” according to WIRED.

Executives also pushed back on the idea that agents automatically destroy brand value. WIRED reported that many suggested product quality, customer service, and brand trust would still shape decisions even with less human involvement in the shopping flow. In other words, some leaders see agents as a new acquisition channel, not an existential threat—at least not yet.

There’s also a “watch and optimize” posture emerging. WIRED reported that some companies are already optimizing their websites for agents despite low volumes today. Chipotle’s experience—agents getting tripped up by loyalty discounts and after-hours ordering—shows why: even small volumes can expose brittle checkout logic and edge cases that also affect human customers.

Skepticism remains, too. WIRED reported that DoorDash CEO and Meta board member Tony Xu said the current hype about agents might be “delusional.” That kind of comment captures the mood: leaders don’t want to miss a platform shift, but they also don’t want to over-invest before there’s proof that agentic shopping is material to revenue.

How many users are actively using Meta’s Muse for shopping?

Meta’s top-line adoption figure is large, but the shopping slice is more nuanced. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Meta’s earnings call that more than 10 million people in the US and Canada had activated Muse, according to WIRED. Zuckerberg added that over 25% of those users used Muse for shopping—more than any other task and above Meta’s expectations, WIRED reported.

Those statements imply meaningful consumer experimentation: millions of people trying an agent for commerce-related tasks, at least some of the time. But “activated” and “used for shopping” don’t necessarily translate into steady purchasing volume across the broader economy. That gap shows up in what merchants are reporting.

Across earnings calls and conversations with WIRED, companies described Muse- and agent-driven transactions as minimal so far. DoorDash’s “hundreds” of orders, Hilton’s “insignificant” bookings, and eBay’s “very, very small” activity suggest that, even if many consumers are testing Muse, a smaller subset is completing purchases through it—or they’re buying from a limited set of merchants and categories.

WIRED also noted an open question: where, exactly, users of Muse and other agents are spending their money. But WIRED reported many of those retailers last reported earnings before Muse launched and haven’t shared data about it yet.

The result is a split-screen picture by late 2026: Meta describing rapid activation and strong shopping interest, while many large brands say the measurable impact on their own order flow remains tiny. Both can be true in an early market—especially if usage is concentrated, intermittent, or still failing at checkout due to the kinds of friction Chipotle described.

What revenue model is Meta implementing for businesses using Muse?

Meta’s plan is to monetize Muse not only as a consumer feature, but as a toll road for commerce. According to WIRED, Zuckerberg said Meta plans to charge businesses a fee for transactions facilitated by Muse. Zuckerberg also predicted that this revenue stream would eventually top Meta’s massive advertising business.

That model matters because it changes the cost structure of customer acquisition. For decades, many online businesses have treated advertising as the primary “tax” for demand—paying platforms to reach customers. A transaction fee on agent-facilitated purchases would add a second layer: paying not just to be discovered, but to be bought through the agent’s rails.

Some companies are approaching that cautiously. InterContinental Hotels CEO Elie Maalouf said the company was taking a careful approach in talks with Meta: “We haven’t come to any conclusions on what an eventual collaboration could look like, if any,” according to WIRED. That hesitation is rational: a transaction fee can be attractive if it replaces other marketing spend, but painful if it stacks on top of existing costs.

Partnerships can be a way to seed adoption and standardize integrations before fees become meaningful at scale. But the same dynamic that makes agents appealing to consumers—outsourcing the shopping journey—can make merchants wary: if Muse becomes a dominant interface, Meta could gain leverage over pricing, placement, and the economics of conversion.

In short, Meta is signaling a future where “agentic checkout” is monetized directly. Businesses are signaling they’re not yet convinced the volume is there—or that the terms will be worth it.

The Future of Business with Meta Muse

Understanding the Current Landscape

By late 2026, the story is defined by a mismatch between attention and measurable impact. WIRED reported Muse has been a hot topic on earnings calls, and Meta has described millions of people using it for shopping. At the same time, WIRED reported many major companies characterize agent-driven orders, bookings, and account activity as negligible.

That doesn’t mean the shift is imaginary. It means the market is early—and early markets are noisy. Small volumes can still drive meaningful behavior changes inside companies, such as Chipotle’s decision to adjust site code after seeing agents stumble on loyalty discounts and after-hours ordering, according to WIRED.

The Role of AI in Business Transformation

If agents become a common interface, businesses may have to compete on “agent experience” alongside customer experience: clean product data, predictable checkout logic, fewer edge cases, and clearer policies that an automated system can follow. WIRED reported companies like Costco and Extra Space Storage said sales originating from AI chatbots such as Gemini and ChatGPT are surging as they optimize online content for those tools, and they plan to do the same for AI agents.

That suggests a broader pattern: optimization for machine readers—chatbots today, agents tomorrow—becoming a standard part of digital operations.

Challenges and Opportunities Ahead

The risks are concrete: security warnings like Bank of America’s note about credential sharing, platform restrictions like Amazon’s block (and later openness), and the possibility of fee structures that compress margins, all reported by WIRED. The opportunities are also clear: incremental demand, smoother conversion, and new ways to reach customers who prefer to delegate shopping.

The near-term reality, based on what executives told WIRED, is that most companies aren’t seeing disruption yet. The longer-term question is whether Muse becomes a widely trusted shopping layer—and whether businesses can afford the economics of participating once transaction fees and competitive dynamics mature.

Scope note: This article summarizes reporting and quoted remarks as described by WIRED, including statements from Meta and executives on earnings calls; it reflects what those sources said by late 2026.

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