OpenAI, Meta, and Google want AI agents to do everything for you. But popular services on the web aren’t letting that happen.
OpenAI, Meta, and Google want AI agents to do everything for you. But popular services on the web aren’t letting that happen.
Autonomous agents are the hottest thing in AI. OpenAI, Meta, Google, Instinct, and others promise their agents can scour the internet on your behalf, doing anything from booking a dinner reservation and cleaning out your inbox to buying new shoes. But what happens when the rest of the internet won’t play nice?
In recent weeks, users of services like Meta’s Muse, xAI’s Grok, OpenAI’s Dots, and Instinct have reported blocks preventing their AI agents from performing tasks across top websites. YelptoldTechCrunchthat it only allows AI agents that pay for its data licensing program, while Delta Air Lines is preventing them from booking tickets on behalf of users.JPMorgan ChaseandCharles Schwabhave also confirmed that they’re blocking AI agents from accessin…
Amazon was already fighting off AI agents last year when itbanned Perplexity’s agentic shoppingfeature andsued the AI startup, raising legal and practical questions about the future of agents on the web. At the time, Amazon claimed it “repeatedly requested” that Perplexity stop allowing its AI agents to shop on its website, adding that third-party companies that purchase items on behalf of customers “should operate openly and respect service prov…
Perplexityrespondedby pointing out that Amazon doesn’t want AI agents roaming its platform because it won’t get as many human eyeballs in front of its ads —whichisan actual issuefor the ecommerce giant. The AI startup likened its AI agent to an extension of the user, arguing that Amazon “does not believe in your right to hire labor, to have an assistant or an employee acting on your behalf.” While a judge laterordered Perplexityto stop its AI age…
Even if websites aren’t banning AI agents outright, agents may still be clashing with anti-bot systems
This ongoing legal battle didn’t stop OpenAI, Meta, and Google from rolling out agents of their own. But they’re dealing with the same problems as Perplexity. Muse, Meta’s deceptively cute AI assistant,most recently faced the wrath of Amazon, which said its “continued access” violates its site policies. There are reports ofxAI’s Grok,Instinct’s AI agent,andOpenAI’s Dotsbeing unable to use Amazon as well. xAI ownerElon Musk respondedby saying that…
“Does this impact the perceived value of the Anthropics and the OpenAIs? I would say absolutely,” Chris Canal, the CEO of the AI safety evaluator EquiStamp, tellsThe Verge. “One of the claims is that they’re going to permeate every aspect of our lives and be able to do anything that we could do online. If there are companies that are actively working to make that not happen, there are just fewer useful things the agents can do.”
Meta responded to instances of websites blocking Muse in apost earlier this month. “Turning away a personal agent means turning away the customer behind it,” the company says. “We’d rather work with businesses to address the underlying concerns than see them lose that customer.” Instead of trying to fight Amazon, the companyhas partnered with retailerslike Walmart, Gap, Sephora, Best Buy, and others, allowing Muse to shop on their sites. At the s…
The Vergereached out to OpenAI and Google with requests for comments on the roadblocks their AI agents are facing but didn’t immediately hear back. Instinct declined to comment.
Even if websites aren’t banning AI agents outright, agents may still be clashing with anti-bot systems, which have become ubiquitous across the web.Reports on Redditsuggest that Google is blocking some accounts that use Muse due to “suspicious activity,” while othershave reported issueschecking out on Walmart despite its Meta partnership. “There are all kinds of things that are set up not even to block agents, but to block in general bots or prog…
The web architecture provider Cloudflare has also played a role in helping sites clamp down on unwanted AI visitors. After introducing aone-click block for AI crawlersin 2025, Cloudflare beganblocking crawlersthat simultaneously scrape websites for both search indexing and AI training. The move is part of Cloudflare’s efforts to save the web from an influx of AI bots, which isputting a strain on internet infrastructureand wreaking havoc on email …
While these blocks may help keep some AI agents and bots out of a website, Canal says they will ultimately make the web more “annoying” to use as more sites roll out interfaces to confirm you’re not a robot. “We could see them on a simple grocery shopping website soon, where you’re having to jump through a bunch of hoops to prove that you’re a human using the computer or your phone.”