The web is slamming its doors on AI agents

Autonomous AI agents are the industry's hottest trend. OpenAI, Meta, Google, Instinct, and others promise assistants that will roam the internet on your behalf — booking a restaurant table, clearing out your inbox, buying new sneakers. The catch: the rest of the internet isn't eager to cooperate.

Rejection after rejection

According to The Verge, users of services like Meta's Muse, xAI's Grok, OpenAI's Dots, and Instinct have run into blocks in recent weeks. Yelp said it only admits agents that pay for its data licensing program. Delta Air Lines won't let them book tickets for users. JPMorgan Chase and Charles Schwab have confirmed they bar agents from accounts over security concerns. Some users report that Cars.com and Amtrak, which once worked, are now off-limits — suggesting companies may be quietly switching bots off.

The Amazon precedent

Amazon opened the war last year: it banned Perplexity's shopping feature and sued the startup. Perplexity countered that the real reason is advertising — an agent doesn't look at banners, so Amazon loses human eyeballs. The startup compared its agent to a hired assistant and accused the giant of refusing to recognize "your right to hire labor acting on your behalf." A judge first ordered Perplexity's agents to stop shopping there, but an appeals court overturned the ruling in August; Amazon has since filed an amended complaint.

That didn't stop OpenAI, Meta, and Google from launching their own agents — and hitting the same walls. Amazon said Muse's access violates its site policies; Grok, Dots, and Instinct's agent reportedly struggled there too. Elon Musk responded in character, suggesting he "should start a competitor to Amazon."

A question of value

"Does this impact the perceived value of the Anthropics and the OpenAIs? I would say absolutely," says EquiStamp CEO Chris Canal. The more sites that lock them out, the fewer genuinely useful things agents can do.

Meta chose a different tack: instead of fighting Amazon, it struck deals with Walmart, Gap, Sephora, Best Buy, and others, while Shopify opened its storefront network to agents. "Turning away a personal agent means turning away the customer behind it," the company said.

Even where agents aren't banned outright, they collide with the anti-bot systems now ubiquitous across the web. Reddit reports say Google blocks some Muse accounts for "suspicious activity," while others can't check out on Walmart despite the partnership. Cloudflare, which added a one-click AI-crawler block back in 2025, is also helping sites screen out unwanted visitors.

Canal's conclusion is grim for everyone: the web will just get more "annoying," as prove-you're-human checks spread — perhaps even to the plainest grocery site.

Source: The Verge