Meta Launches Muse AI Agent to Complete Purchases on WhatsApp

Meta has introduced Muse, an AI agent that can autonomously complete purchases on behalf of users across its social platforms, marking the company's most aggressive push yet into agentic commerce.

Launched Tuesday for US adults, Muse operates inside WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook as a conversational assistant that can message friends, plan activities, and execute shopping transactions from product discovery through checkout. The agent presents final transaction totals for user approval before completing purchases, according to details first reported by Vogue Business.

How Muse accesses user data

When granted permission, Muse can connect to Facebook and Instagram accounts and access direct messages. WhatsApp operates under tighter restrictions—because messages are end-to-end encrypted, Muse can only use information users explicitly share with the agent.

The shopping capability extends beyond product recommendations. Muse can navigate checkout processes and handle payments on a user's behalf, differentiating it from earlier AI shopping experiments by OpenAI and Google that focused primarily on shortening the discovery-to-purchase journey.

Meta's advantage lies in years of accumulated social signals—what users follow, watch, save and share—that could give Muse superior understanding of individual taste compared to general-purpose AI assistants like ChatGPT or Gemini.

Security and payment infrastructure

To address data security concerns, Meta assigns each Muse user a private cloud environment called a Muse Secure VM, where the agent operates in isolation without accessing passwords or payment details. Payments run through Stripe's Link service, which generates single-use card numbers rather than exposing actual card information. The Stripe integration also extends standard buyer protections including returns and coverage for lost or damaged items.

Shopify merchants in the US are automatically enrolled with their products accessible to Muse and direct checkout enabled by default, unless they opt out. This gives the agent immediate access to a substantial catalog of fashion and retail brands.

Why it matters

Muse represents a fundamental shift in how AI agents might influence commerce, but success hinges on consumer trust in an area where Meta faces considerable skepticism. A Vogue Business survey from April found only 31% of consumers would outsource shopping to an AI agent, even one that knows their taste and purchase history. Seventy-two percent said they would not share card details with AI systems.

The technology also creates unresolved questions for creator economics. If a user saved a creator's post featuring a product months ago, and Muse later retrieves that context to inform a purchase recommendation, the creator who originally influenced the decision could lose both attribution and affiliate commission if Muse completes the transaction directly. Meta has not explained how creator attribution will work in these scenarios.

Max Sinclair, CEO of Azoma AI, told Vogue Business that Muse could quickly become one of the top five AI shopping agents, largely because Meta has 3.6 billion daily users across its platforms. "It's probably going to be unavoidable for people, because it's just in front of them all the time," Sinclair said.

Meta plans to add Muse to its AI smart glasses but has not provided a timeline or specified which agentic features would be included. Industry analysts see glasses as a potentially powerful shopping interface, though consumer demand remains limited.

Mastercard forecast this week that one in 10 shoppers will use a personal AI agent to purchase products on their behalf by 2030, but current surveys suggest widespread consumer skepticism about the technology.

Details were first reported by Vogue Business.