Meta’s Muse turns AI shopping into a checkout with major retail partners

Meta wants its AI to do more than tell you which sneakers are on sale. It wants the AI to buy them.

On September 23, Meta announced retail partnerships for Muse, its standalone personal AI agent app, with Walmart, Gap, Sephora, Wayfair and Best Buy. The deals arrived barely two weeks after launch.

The move turns Muse from a chatbot that answers questions into something closer to a personal shopper with a payment method on file. That shift matters because it points to how Meta plans to make money from the product.

What Muse actually does

Meta unveiled Muse on September 8, 2026, pitching it as an agent built to carry out multi-step tasks. A typical chatbot hands you a list of links. An agent clicks through them for you.

Shopping quickly emerged as one of the app’s main use cases. Users can have Muse browse retail sites, surface product recommendations and complete the purchase.

Meta requires user approval before Muse handles a transaction, so the agent can fill the cart but cannot swipe the card without permission.

The app runs tasks inside a dedicated environment Meta calls the Muse Secure VM. A virtual machine is essentially a walled-off computer within a computer, so the agent’s browsing and actions happen in a sandbox rather than loose on a user’s device.

Payments came together in stages. Stripe Link was available at launch. Shopify Shop Pay was added around September 21-22, and PayPal followed around September 22.

Within roughly two weeks, Muse went from one payment rail to three, which gives the agent a far wider set of storefronts where it can actually close a sale.

Early traction, and an Amazon-sized wall

Muse reached between 2.5 and 2.8 million downloads in the US within its first two weeks and climbed to the top ranks of the App Store.

Not every retailer rolled out the welcome mat. Amazon blocked Muse from accessing its platform in mid-to-late September, pointing to concerns over consent and credential security.

It also carries an obvious competitive dimension. The largest online store declining to let a rival’s AI roam its aisles is a meaningful gap in what Muse can shop for, at least for now.

The business model: fees over subscriptions

Muse comes with a free access tier plus paid tiers priced at $20 and $100 for additional features.

Mark Zuckerberg has indicated Meta intends to monetize Muse primarily through small per-transaction fees rather than relying only on subscription revenue. Every purchase the agent completes becomes a potential sliver of income.

That is a notable change in posture for a company built on advertising. Ads monetize attention. Transaction fees monetize action, and an agent that finishes the purchase is in a strong position to collect on that action.

Meta has signaled that more shopping connectors and payment options are expected as the service develops.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.