Websites Are Blocking AI Agents From Acting on Users’ Behalf

Summary

AI agents are being promoted as tools that can browse the internet for users, book reservations, manage inboxes and buy products, but major websites are increasingly restricting them. Yelp says agents must participate in its paid data-licensing program, Delta blocks them from booking flights, and JPMorgan Chase and Charles Schwab block access to accounts over security concerns. Amazon has fought Perplexity’s shopping agent in court and has also objected to access by Meta’s Muse and other agents; an appeals court overturned an earlier order that would have stopped Perplexity’s agents from shopping on Amazon, while Amazon has filed an amended complaint. The restrictions affect agents from OpenAI, Meta, xAI, Instinct and others, and some users report that Cars.com, Amtrak and Walmart no longer work reliably. Websites may also block agents unintentionally through anti-bot protections designed to stop fraud, hacking or automated abuse. Meta says it would rather work with businesses and has partnerships allowing Muse to shop on Walmart, Gap, Sephora and Best Buy, while Shopify has opened its storefront network to agents. Cloudflare has added tools for sites to block AI crawlers, including crawlers that scrape for both search indexing and AI training. The article’s sources warn that these barriers could reduce the usefulness of agents and make ordinary web use more frustrating as more sites require users to prove they are human.