Meta wants a cut of what its AI sells, not ad dollars
Analysts see billions in potential revenue, but the plan depends mostly on retailer access and the cost of computing.
WSJ What's News · Can Meta Turn Muse’s Popularity Into Profits?At this point, Meta does not want to put ads in Muse, its AI agent. Instead, the company says it plans to take a cut of any sale Muse helps complete online.
It works like a middleman fee. A shopper asks Muse, the consumer agent, to find and buy something. In Meta's ideal version, that agent talks directly to a business agent on the seller's side, and Meta collects a fee for making the connection. The company already works with many small businesses, and it sees Muse as another way to plug into them. As Meghan Bobrowsky, a reporter who covers Meta, put it, "You could be taking a cut from the consumer side and from the business side."
Analysts estimate it could add billions of dollars in new revenue for Meta.
The catch is access. The number of sites Muse can reach is one of the big hurdles, and Amazon has already blocked Muse. If other big retailers do the same, there are fewer checkouts for Meta to take a fee from.
There is also the cost of running the system. The agents need a lot of computing power, which costs the company a lot of money. Susan Lee, Meta's chief financial officer, said making Muse profitable will take time. The payoff likely depends on two things: letting Muse into enough stores, and making it cheap enough to run.
Questions people ask
How does an AI agent like Muse actually buy something?
It browses product pages, compares options, and completes checkout on your behalf after you give it permission to pay. It uses connectors to payment and banking services to move the money, much like a human clicking through a store website.
Why would Amazon block Muse?
Retailers worry about losing control of pricing, product presentation, and customer data, and about paying a new fee to Meta. Blocking also preserves their advertising and recommendation business, and gives them leverage to negotiate terms later.
How big a cut would Meta take?
Meta has not disclosed a rate. Similar checkout and marketplace services often charge a few percent of the sale, split between payment processing and a referral or platform fee. The exact cut will likely vary by merchant and volume.