The RealReal won’t let AI agents hog designer clothing
The RealReal has strengthened its bot defense system to prevent AI agents from monopolizing designer clothing by exploiting its 20-minute cart hold.Summary
The RealReal, a secondhand luxury fashion consignment retailer, has updated its bot defense system to make it harder for AI agents to shop on its site. This follows a report by The Verge demonstrating that an AI agent using Meta’s Muse could continuously re-add items to a shopping cart, exploiting The RealReal’s 20-minute hold system and blocking other shoppers for hours. The company’s CTO, Luke Friang, stated that the new configuration makes it much more difficult for agents to log in, add items to cart, and check out, though agents can still surface listings and direct users to product pages. Meta did not respond to a request for comment. The incident highlights broader concerns about AI agents disrupting e-commerce, as retailers like Amazon have already blocked agents, and the balance of the web could shift if shopping moves to chatbots.
(Source：The Verge)