After blocking Muse, Amazon now lets users text Alexa to help them shop

Amazon is adopting text messaging as a way for customers to interact with its AI agents, announcing a feature that lets users chat with Alexa over text to shop. The launch follows Amazon's September blocking of Meta's Muse agent from querying its site and comes just before the holiday shopping season. Select U.S. customers will receive a text inviting them to enable the feature, which supports natural language queries for searching items, adding them to cart, and making purchases. It builds on recent Alexa shopping upgrades, so the agent can manage lists, track prices, search the web for items, compare products, check order status, and find similar Amazon listings from a shared photo of an item or outfit. Amazon said Alexa will learn users' preferences over time to suggest items, and those not invited can join a waitlist, with broader rollout in the coming weeks. The move reflects platforms building their own consumer AI agents; DoorDash recently said third-party agents had placed only hundreds of orders on its platform and that it will focus on developing its own text-based agent.

(Source：TechCrunch)