Meta's Muse was among the hottest topics on corporate earnings calls in recent weeks, with Wall Street worrying that proactive shopping agents will erode brand loyalty, ignite price wars and squeeze corporate profits. But when WIRED asked executives across roughly 50 companies — spanning travel, internet providers, food and self-storage — the answer was a shrug. DoorDash described the number of orders from Muse and other agents as in the 'hundreds.' T-Mobile remarked: 'We haven't seen anything of significance' from agents.

The friction is concrete at the companies that have looked closely. Chipotle's chief digital officer Arlie Sisson said agents have struggled to complete purchases because of hiccups applying loyalty discounts or ordering after hours — though Muse's debut did increase Chipotle's agentic orders by a single-digit percentage.

Meta's own numbers, from its earnings call this month, point the other way: more than 10 million people in the US and Canada have activated Muse, over 25 percent of them used it for shopping — more than any other task and above the company's expectations — and Meta points to partnerships with 10 retailers including Walmart, Best Buy and Gap to simplify shopping with the agent. Many of those retailers last reported earnings before Muse launched and have not shared data on it yet, and executives generally acknowledged agent-driven commerce is still in its early stages rather than a non-event.

A Wall Street Journal follow-up, reported on November 1, sharpens what is at stake for one company in particular: Muse's shopping agent is emerging as a threat to Amazon's nearly $70 billion advertising business, because agents that compare prices and choose products can weaken the sponsored placements Amazon sells. Amazon says its advertising business has not been meaningfully affected so far.