Bank of America warns Meta’s Muse AI agent could shift shopping and payments away from Apple’s ecosystem.
Meta’s Muse AI agent is raising new questions about how mobile commerce could shift if AI assistants begin handling shopping and payments directly for users.
According to a Bank of America investor note reported by 9to5Mac, Muse highlights a future risk to Apple’s services revenue by potentially moving product discovery, referrals and transactions away from Apple’s ecosystem.
Muse is designed to browse the web, fill out forms, book trips, send emails and make purchases on a user’s behalf. Stripe has said Muse uses Link for checkout, allowing users to approve payments while keeping underlying payment details hidden from the agent.
That capability matters because Apple’s mobile commerce strength depends partly on controlling the app, discovery and payment environment. If users start asking agents to find and buy products directly, some commerce activity could move outside the traditional App Store and in-app payment flow.
The risk is still forward-looking. Bank of America framed Muse as a possible long-term threat, not an immediate hit to Apple’s business.
Muse’s rapid adoption makes the issue harder to ignore. Reuters reported that the agent quickly climbed app store rankings after launch, while Stripe’s integration gives it a clearer path into real purchases.
For Apple, the challenge is whether Siri and its wider AI strategy can match the usefulness of third-party agents that act across apps, websites and payment systems.
For the broader market, the signal is clear: AI agents are no longer just search or chat tools. They are starting to sit between consumers, merchants and payment rails.
If that behavior scales, mobile commerce power could shift from operating systems and app stores toward the AI assistants that control the user’s next action.
