AI Agents Poised to Revolutionize Online Shopping with New Protocols
A group of leading technology and retail companies is working to transform online shopping by enabling AI agents to make purchases on behalf of users. The coalition, comprising Meta, Sierra, Genesys, Rocket, Shopify, and Walmart, has unveiled the Personal Agent Protocol, an open standard that allows personal AI agents to interact directly with businesses.
The shift toward AI-driven commerce is already showing significant traction. Stripe’s Link digital wallet, used by around 300 million people and connected to about 1 million merchants, reported a 38-fold surge in agentic purchases over the past month leading into late September 2026. Meta’s AI assistant, Muse, launched on September 8, 2026, and quickly integrated with Stripe Link, enabling purchases through virtual cards or stored payment credentials. Within two weeks, Muse added Shop Pay and PayPal integrations and became the first agent to offer purchase protections to users. Walmart is playing a key role in the Muse ecosystem, alongside other major retailers.
However, the landscape is fragmented, with multiple competing protocols. Walmart and Shopify are part of the Universal Commerce Protocol, developed with Google, Target, Etsy, and Wayfair, which aims to streamline the entire agent-initiated checkout process. Stripe co-developed the Agentic Commerce Protocol with OpenAI in September 2025 and launched the Machine Payment Protocol with Tempo in March 2026 to address machine-initiated payments. Genesys is also expanding collaborations to enhance agentic customer experiences. This competition means no single framework has yet emerged as the dominant standard.
The transition from chat-based AI assistants to transaction-capable agents represents a fundamental change in retail engagement. While chatbots can recommend products, AI agents that handle purchases, shipping, and returns offer a more powerful tool. Muse’s inclusion of purchase protections from the outset underscores the importance of trust in driving mass adoption of these technologies.