The next hurdle for AI agents: getting websites to let them in
The next hurdle for AI agents: getting websites to let them in
AI 智能体的下一个障碍：如何让网站“放行”
Personal AI agents, like Meta’s Muse, Instinct, ChatGPT’s Dots, and others, are kicking off a new wave of consumer AI that involves more than just responding to queries. These AI agents can actually get things done on users’ behalf, like booking flights, making dinner reservations, ordering groceries, and more, all without having to be technical enough to set up OpenClaw or some other agent on your own computer.
个人 AI 智能体（如 Meta 的 Muse、Instinct、ChatGPT 的 Dots 等）正在掀起消费级 AI 的新浪潮，其功能已远不止于回答问题。这些 AI 智能体能够真正代表用户完成任务，例如预订航班、餐厅订位、购买杂货等，且用户无需具备深厚的技术背景去自行配置 OpenClaw 或其他智能体程序。
But consumers adopting these agents are often running into issues when the website on the other end of their request blocks the AI from completing the job. Most recently, Amazon began blocking Meta’s Muse AI agent from its retail site, meaning that the agent could no longer browse or make purchases from its product catalog. However, the problem is not limited to Amazon or Muse. User complaints across social media indicate their agents are often running into similar blocks.
然而，当用户尝试使用这些智能体时，往往会遇到阻碍——目标网站会拦截这些 AI，导致任务无法完成。最近，亚马逊开始在其零售网站上屏蔽 Meta 的 Muse AI 智能体，这意味着该智能体无法再浏览其产品目录或进行购物。但这个问题并不局限于亚马逊或 Muse。社交媒体上的用户投诉显示，他们的智能体经常遇到类似的封锁。
Some of these are intentional, like Amazon’s, while others are the result of websites’ traditional anti-bot measures designed to protect against spam and malicious activity. What’s not clear to the end user is whether or not the block is accidental on the website owner’s part, which leaves them frustrated with both the service provider or retailer and the agent trying to facilitate the transaction.
其中一些封锁是人为刻意为之（如亚马逊的情况），而另一些则是网站为了防范垃圾信息和恶意活动而采取的传统反机器人措施所致。对于终端用户而言，他们并不清楚这种封锁是否是网站所有者的无心之失，这让他们对服务提供商（或零售商）以及试图促成交易的智能体都感到沮丧。
For instance, TechCrunch has seen a handful of complaints on social media claiming that Muse couldn’t complete a purchase on Walmart’s retail website. (NBC also reported that this was a problem Walmart had faced in its tests of the AI agent.) But a spokesperson for Walmart told us these weren’t intentional. In fact, Walmart is partnered with Muse, as was announced at Meta’s Connect developer conference in September. The company said it wants to be where its customers are, and that now includes being available through AI agent experiences.
例如，TechCrunch 在社交媒体上看到了一些投诉，称 Muse 无法在沃尔玛的零售网站上完成购买。（NBC 也报道称，沃尔玛在测试该 AI 智能体时也遇到了这个问题。）但沃尔玛发言人告诉我们，这些并非刻意封锁。事实上，正如 Meta 在 9 月的 Connect 开发者大会上所宣布的那样，沃尔玛已与 Muse 达成合作。该公司表示，希望出现在客户所在的地方，而这现在也包括通过 AI 智能体体验提供服务。
The issue that Walmart customers often appear to be running into (see below) is that the website presents a button that has to be clicked to verify the visitor is human. If that experience is interrupted, the check could fail, and the agent gets booted out. It’s an indication that the current technology we use to verify humans and keep websites safe from spam and bots may not be the best fit for the agent-first era of the web we’re now moving into.
沃尔玛客户经常遇到的问题（见下文）是，网站会弹出一个需要点击才能验证访客是否为人类的按钮。如果这一交互过程被打断，验证可能会失败，智能体就会被踢出。这表明，我们目前用于验证人类身份并保护网站免受垃圾信息和机器人攻击的技术，可能并不完全适用于我们正在迈入的“智能体优先”的网络时代。
To address this problem, industry partners including Meta, Walmart, Stripe, Sierra, Genesys, Rocket, NiCE, and Decagon have begun working on an open standard that would dictate how AI agents can communicate with businesses, helping to separate the good bots acting on behalf of the user and the bad. This protocol will be specifically focused on agent-to-agent communication for the purposes of online commerce, Meta said in a blog post.
为了解决这个问题，包括 Meta、沃尔玛、Stripe、Sierra、Genesys、Rocket、NiCE 和 Decagon 在内的行业合作伙伴已开始制定一项开放标准，旨在规范 AI 智能体如何与企业进行通信，从而帮助区分代表用户的“好机器人”和恶意机器人。Meta 在一篇博客文章中表示，该协议将专门针对在线商务场景下的智能体间通信。
In the meantime, consumer confusion abounds. Although Walmart is at least trying to be accessible via AI agents, other companies aren’t so keen on the idea or haven’t fully embraced the technology. For example, flight booking is currently one of the main use cases being positioned for agents, but many people have reported issues with airlines rejecting their agents’ requests.
与此同时，消费者感到困惑不已。尽管沃尔玛至少在尝试通过 AI 智能体提供服务，但其他公司对此并不热衷，或者尚未完全拥抱这项技术。例如，预订航班目前是智能体的主要应用场景之一，但许多人报告称，航空公司拒绝了他们智能体的请求。
Delta, for instance, told us that the company is taking steps to protect customers from unauthorized automated activity, and that if it were to open up to AI agents, it would have to be done with “security and the customer experience in mind.” “While Delta does not currently have a partnership or integration that enables a third-party AI agent to shop for or book Delta flights on a customer’s behalf on our digital platforms, we’re continuing to evaluate how new technology, including external AI agents, could enhance the way customers engage with Delta,” said Delta’s general manager of Global Communications, Heena Chavda.
以达美航空为例，该公司告诉我们，他们正在采取措施保护客户免受未经授权的自动化活动影响。如果未来要向 AI 智能体开放，必须“在确保安全和客户体验的前提下进行”。达美航空全球传播总经理 Heena Chavda 在回应关于是否封锁智能体的询问时表示：“虽然达美航空目前没有与第三方 AI 智能体建立合作或集成，使其能够代表客户在我们的数字平台上购买或预订航班，但我们正在持续评估包括外部 AI 智能体在内的新技术如何改善客户与达美航空的互动方式。”
United was not quite as direct as Delta, but a spokesperson pointed us to the part of its Terms of Use policy, which says that the user agrees “not to use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or manual process to monitor or copy this website or the content contained therein or for any other unauthorized purpose without United’s prior written permission.”
美联航的态度不如达美航空直接，但其发言人向我们指出了其《使用条款》中的相关规定，即用户同意“未经美联航事先书面许可，不得使用任何机器人、爬虫、其他自动设备或手动流程来监控或复制本网站及其内容，或用于任何其他未经授权的目的。”
Early adopters’ complaints across social media have referenced a number of brands that are reportedly blocking AI agents, including Yelp, eBay, Zillow, Pizza Hut, Adidas, and various airlines. Some believe that the blocking activity seems to have recently increased. A couple of people even said eBay suspended their accounts because of their use of agentic AI. Another complained that Google kicked out Instinct while it was cleaning up their Gmail inbox for them.
社交媒体上早期采用者的投诉提到了许多据称正在封锁 AI 智能体的品牌，包括 Yelp、eBay、Zillow、必胜客、阿迪达斯以及多家航空公司。一些人认为，这种封锁行为近期似乎有所增加。甚至有用户表示，由于使用了智能体 AI，他们的 eBay 账户被封禁。还有人抱怨说，当 Instinct 正在为他们清理 Gmail 收件箱时，被谷歌踢了出来。
Despite the push to have agents book tables at restaurants and other tedious tasks, Yelp told us that it doesn’t permit non-human traffic on its platform unless the agent has paid to access Yelp’s content and data through its data licensing program. That means agents trying to use its site to get a quote, add a user to a waitlist, or book them a table will likely fail if they don’t have a formal partnership with Yelp.
尽管人们推动智能体去完成餐厅订位等繁琐任务，但 Yelp 告诉我们，除非智能体已通过其数据许可计划付费获取 Yelp 的内容和数据，否则平台不允许非人类流量访问。这意味着，如果智能体没有与 Yelp 建立正式合作关系，试图通过其网站获取报价、加入候补名单或预订餐位很可能会失败。
eBay told TechCrunch that its approach is not to prohibit all third-party shopping agents from completing purchases. Instead, its policies restrict unauthorized agents and actions, like automated scraping and model training. Adidas, Zillow, and Pizza Hut either didn’t respond or declined to provide a comment by the time of publication.
eBay 告诉 TechCrunch，其策略并非禁止所有第三方购物智能体完成购买，而是限制未经授权的智能体和行为，例如自动抓取和模型训练。截至发稿时，阿迪达斯、Zillow 和必胜客未作回应或拒绝置评。