The news
Agentic commerce, in which AI assistants shop and pay for people, gained a major consumer platform in September 2026: Meta Platforms (META) launched its Muse agent with Stripe's Link wallet on September 8, and Amazon pushed back weeks later.
Meta says Muse can open a browser, fill out forms, negotiate and complete purchases, checking with the user before sensitive actions such as buying something. A separate Meta security agent approves actions Muse takes on the internet, and users get an audit trail. Muse is rolling out in the U.S. on iOS, Android and the web, with a free tier and paid plans. Meta said Shopify's Shop Pay is coming soon as a second payment option.
Stripe said Link, which has more than 300 million users and is accepted by more than 1 million businesses, lets Muse pay with a consumer's saved payment method at those businesses. At merchants that do not take Link, Muse receives a one-time virtual card that works only for the purchase the user approved. Either way, shoppers confirm the total in the chat for every purchase, and Stripe says the card details stay hidden from Muse. Muse is not Link's first agent: Stripe said Link's agent wallet already powers payments for Grok Bot and Instinct.
Resistance followed. Payments Dive reported on September 23 that Amazon (AMZN) asked to be removed from Muse, saying the agent had accessed its store without notice or authorization. Amazon said third-party apps buying on customers' behalf should "operate openly" and respect a platform's choice about whether to participate. Amazon sued AI company Perplexity in 2025 over its Comet browser agent; according to Payments Dive, a U.S. appeals court in August 2026 overturned a temporary ruling that had barred Perplexity's shopping tools from Amazon's site.
The trust layer is still being built. On September 10, Ant International, Visa and Mastercard said they will develop a shared Know Your Agent framework to verify agents across networks. In a Payments Dive report published September 25, FIDO Alliance CEO Andrew Shikiar said liability, chargebacks and merchant confidence remain barriers, and that he expects a gradual shift.
The numbers
- Link users worldwide (Stripe)
- 300 million+
- Businesses accepting Link (Stripe)
- 1 million+
- U.S. consumers who trust GenAI to handle payment transactions on their behalf (Visa/Harris Poll)
- 23%
- U.S. consumers who have used an AI assistant (Visa/Harris Poll)
- 72%
Why CEOs should care
For e-commerce and payments leaders, the first decision is policy, not technology. Decide whether your site will welcome, limit or block AI agents, and write it down before holiday traffic arrives. Amazon wants agents to identify themselves and respect its decision on whether to participate; other merchants may prefer the extra orders. Ask your payment processor whether it can flag agent-initiated transactions, whether single-use virtual cards from Link change your fraud scores, and how disputes will be handled when a customer says the agent bought the wrong item.
CFOs should update return, refund and chargeback assumptions. Link offers consumers purchase protections, including coverage for damaged or lost items and a return guarantee on eligible purchases, according to Meta. Clarify with your processor which party absorbs costs when those protections are triggered, and track agent orders separately so you can measure their return and dispute rates against human orders.
CISOs face a bot problem with a twist. Meta says 1Password support, which will let Muse use a person's saved logins, is coming soon, so legitimate agents may soon look like authenticated customers. Work with your fraud and bot-management vendors to separate declared agents from scrapers and credential-stuffing tools, and log every agent session. Boards should also weigh consumer trust: in a Visa-commissioned Harris Poll of U.S. consumers, fielded May 26-28 and released September 9, 72% had used an AI assistant but only 23% said they trust generative AI to handle payment transactions on their behalf.
The bigger picture
The contest is over who owns the customer at checkout. Wallet providers like Stripe want agents to pay through them, card networks want to certify which agents can transact, and large merchants want to decide who reaches their shelves. Meta's move shows that a consumer platform of its size can put an agent in front of shoppers quickly. The result for merchants is a new traffic source they do not control, arriving before identity and liability standards exist.
What’s next
Watch whether Shop Pay goes live inside Muse, whether other large retailers follow Amazon in blocking or negotiating with agents, and whether the Know Your Agent framework and FIDO's agent authentication work produce specifications merchants can use. Expect the first large-scale data on agent-driven orders and disputes after the 2026 holiday season.
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