Some Websites Are Blocking AI Assistants That Shop and Book for You

AI "agents" are a hot topic. Companies such as OpenAI, Meta and Google say these programs can search the internet for you and do jobs like booking a dinner reservation, cleaning out your inbox or buying shoes. The Verge reports that many websites are not letting them in.

In recent weeks, people using AI agents such as Meta's Muse, xAI's Grok, OpenAI's Dots and one called Instinct say they have been blocked from top sites. Yelp told TechCrunch that it only allows agents that pay for its data licensing program. Delta Air Lines is stopping agents from booking tickets for users. JPMorgan Chase and Charles Schwab say they block agents from accounts because of security worries. Some users say sites that used to work, such as Cars.com and Amtrak, no longer do, which suggests other companies may be quietly blocking agents, too.

Amazon had a similar fight last year. It banned a shopping feature from the startup Perplexity and sued the company. Amazon said companies that buy things for customers should work openly and respect a site's decision on whether to take part. Perplexity answered that Amazon does not want agents on its site because that means fewer people see its ads, and it compared its agent to an assistant working for the user. A judge first ordered Perplexity to stop its agents from shopping on Amazon, but an appeals court overturned that order in August. Amazon has since filed an amended complaint.

The legal fight did not stop OpenAI, Meta and Google from launching their own agents, and they are running into the same problem. Amazon said that Muse's continued access breaks its site rules. Reports say Grok, Instinct's agent and Dots cannot use Amazon either.

Chris Canal, CEO of an AI safety testing company called EquiStamp, told The Verge that this affects how valuable these AI companies look. If companies actively work to stop agents, he said, there are fewer useful things for the agents to do. Meta said that turning away a personal agent means turning away the customer behind it.