Meta’s AI-driven Muse app has soared in popularity, hinting at a strategic move to establish a central gateway for online services and commerce, with external developers already integrating key functionalities amid tensions with retailers like Amazon.
Mark Zuckerberg’s latest AI bet may be more than a product launch. Muse, Meta’s personal AI agent, is beginning to look like an attempt to build the kind of gateway platform that has long eluded the company.
The app has surged to the top of the US free iPhone charts, overtaking ChatGPT for downloads, according to Business Insider and Axios. That matters because the most valuable digital platforms tend to control the first stop in a user’s online journey. If Muse becomes a place where people routinely shop, book, message and manage tasks, Meta could sit between consumers and the services they use.
Meta has started to open that possibility to outside developers. Its new connector system lets companies plug their services into Muse so the agent can carry out actions such as booking travel, sending messages and managing calendars. Meta says connectors will be reviewed for functional, security and legal requirements before appearing in Muse, with editors also able to promote selected integrations.
The early commercial response suggests why developers may pay attention. Shopify said on Monday that it now supports shopping through Muse via Shop Pay, while Stripe is providing payment infrastructure for purchases across the web. Stripe said its Link wallet can be used by US consumers inside Muse, including for instant checkout at participating merchants and single-use virtual cards for other purchases.
There are already signs that the platform will not be universally welcomed. Axios reported that Amazon has blocked Muse from browsing and buying on parts of its site, highlighting the tension between outside AI agents and retailers that want to retain direct control of the customer relationship. That resistance is likely to shape how quickly agent-based commerce spreads.
Still, Meta is clearly trying to learn from the economics of earlier platform shifts. Search and app stores became powerful because businesses had little choice but to meet customers where they already were. If Muse can attract enough users, the same logic could apply again, with APIs and connectors becoming as important as apps once were. For Zuckerberg, that would represent one of the clearest chances yet to turn Meta’s AI work into a durable platform advantage.
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