Meta The newly launched artificial intelligence agent Muse promises to make various tasks, from making appointments to creating playlists, easier. In particular, the introduction of "agent-based shopping" has drawn significant attention from the technology and retail industries.

A spokesperson stated that shopping has quickly become one of the main use cases for Muse.

After completing the initial settings, the shopping process is as simple as having your Muse agent help you find products of interest. You can specify requirements such as brand, price, and inventory as precisely as possible.

This proxy will browse retail websites, filter out products that meet your requirements, and then provide a list of recommended products within the Muse app and website. After clicking on a product, it will either directly open the corresponding retailer's website or open it within the Muse app, displaying a "Pay with Proxy" button.

If you choose to check out using Muse, it will first prepare the checkout process for you and display a "Confirmation Card" that contains details of your order for your final confirmation. If you have not authorized Muse to access your email, full name, and address, it will also request these pieces of information. Regarding payment, Muse allows checkout to be completed through the technical payment partners of Meta, such as Link, by, Stripe, or Shopify Shop Pay, but users need to complete the binding process first.

Meta indicates that Link "will generate a one-time-use card, so your actual bank card information will not be exposed."

PayPal has also been announced as the payment service provider for Muse, but it has not yet been launched.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated at the Meta Connect conference that the company will charge a small fee for these transactions.

Muse "Connector"

On September 23, Meta announced a series of partnerships, providing what they referred to as an “official fast track” for the Muse agency platform. However, not all of these so-called “connectors” have been activated yet.

Wal-Mart, Gap, Sephora, Expedia, Wayfair, Best Buy, and others are among those listed in the announcement, with companies indicating that there will be more collaborations in the works.

For those with a published cooperation relationship, Ticketmaster will direct users to their own market to complete the payment.

A spokesperson for the company said regarding CNBC: "Fans still have complete control over their purchasing decisions, as the final purchases are all made within the secure market of Ticketmaster."

E-commerce giant Amazon has blocked Muse from purchasing goods on its website, stating that this violates the retailer's terms of service. Amazon claims that Muse stores customer credentials and captures account data, among other things.

Professor Luca Cian from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia specializes in studying people's psychological reactions to AI. He stated that consolidating shopping into a single, proxy-based shopping experience may intensify competition among shopping giants, which are already competing for the same market.

Cian to CNBC says: "The real competition surrounding Muse takes place among companies; consumers are the real prize. Whoever controls the agents controls the relationship with shoppers, and every retailer understands this."

Data and Privacy Concerns

AI is used in various pricing practices, which has generally led to a certain level of distrust among shoppers.

A survey in January by Morning Consult found that 59% of American adults expressed “significant concern” about price fraud in dynamic pricing driven by AI.

The Bank of England stated that retail and e-commerce companies are increasingly using AI to collect customer data, and are implementing dynamic or personalized pricing.

McDonald's is increasing the use of AI in product pricing; on the other hand, Instacart ended its AI price-driven testing at the end of last year due to opposition. Instacart is also a partner of Muse.

Wal-Mart CEO John Furner issued an open letter last week in an attempt to assure customers that the company would not use shoppers' personal information to implement dynamic pricing on its website or shopping tools. Furner acknowledged that he “heard people's concerns about companies using this information and technology to charge higher prices.”

In addition to pricing issues, Meta itself also has a history of data and security problems. The company has faced a wave of lawsuits regarding child safety and data security, and recently reached a settlement in a major federal case involving groups of attorneys general from multiple states, for a amount of nearly $17 billion.

Customer Experience

Muse has risen to the top of Apple's list of free apps, while Zuckerberg's Charm device, which resembles an electronic pet machine, has further increased the popularity surrounding this proxy platform.

Cian indicates that despite the distrust in Meta from the outside world, many people still use this application because this type of proxy operates by building trust step by step, and 'people are able to make distinctions' between them.

Cian to CNBC says: 'Research indicates that the perceived sense of control can change behavior. Muse is built around this very concept. Whether these are effective levers in practice is what people will observe next.'

Cian says that despite potential security concerns, consumers may still be willing to entrust various "menial" tasks to agents, but when it comes to purchasing more personalized products, they may still prefer to make their own decisions.

Cian means: 'Restocking, price comparison, returns, waiting for a price drop: no one will feel diminished because these tasks are done by machines.'