Guide · AI agents · For the owner whose next customer may send an AI to book or buy
When a customer's AI agent books or buys from your business: Meta's Muse, the approvals it asks for, AI phone calls you can opt out of, and the Personal Agent Protocol Meta previewed on 6 October 2026
Muse is Meta's personal AI agent: a customer tells it what they want, and it goes and does it. Some of those errands end at a business, so your next booking, order or phone call may come from a customer's AI agent rather than from the customer. This guide puts Meta's own pages into plain words for the owner on the receiving end: what Muse already does with businesses, the two tests Meta says Muse applies before acting, the approvals it asks the customer for, who fulfils an order, the AI phone calls you can opt out of, what your website can and can't control, and the Personal Agent Protocol Meta previewed on 6 October 2026.
Published 15 October 2026
What Muse already does with businesses
Meta's announcement of 6 October 2026 says Muse buys things, makes appointments and resolves support questions, either through a connector or directly on the business's website. Meta says it does this by giving every person their own computer and browser in the cloud, and that Muse acts when a person asks it to.
The everyday examples Meta gave:
- Booking
- Booking an activity for your family.
- Buying
- Finding and buying the best gifts.
- Appointments
- Scheduling the dentist appointment you have put off for six months.
- Support
- Sorting out a confusing support issue without waiting on hold.
Meta's Help Center says the browser inside a Muse chat can book appointments, make purchases, fill in online forms and keep an eye on things such as price drops.
Meta's announcement puts it this way: someone who asks Muse to book with you has already decided to be your customer.
Our reading
The two tests Meta says Muse applies
In the same announcement, Meta says that when Muse browses it behaves like a personal assistant acting for a single person, and applies two tests before acting:
- The “one honest person” test
- Would a reasonable, honest person doing this by hand do it this way and at this scale? Meta's examples: a person could refresh a page 500 times an hour but would not; could make five accounts to use a one-per-household coupon but should not; could write a fake five-star review of their own restaurant but should not.
- The “if every agent did this” test
- If every Muse user made this request, would the system behind it still work? Meta's example: one person hoarding tee times is annoying; every agent hoarding them breaks the market.
When a request crosses the line, Meta says, Muse does what it can, skips what it cannot, and explains the difference to the user. For actions that matter, such as signing in, completing a reservation or making a purchase, it is designed to continue only with the user's explicit approval.
Our reading
What the customer sees and approves
Meta's Help Center says the browser sits inside the customer's chat with Muse, and both the customer and Muse can control it. Usernames and passwords are kept in a Secure Credentials Store, so Muse can complete an approved action without the AI model seeing the password. Meta also says Muse may accept essential cookies on the websites it visits. While Muse works, the customer can:
- Open browser
- Watch what Muse is doing in the browser.
- Take control of the browser
- Pause Muse and carry on by hand.
- Stop the task
- End what Muse is doing in the browser.
- Ask
- Ask Muse which websites it visited and which cookies it accepted.
The customer also sets how often Muse asks first. Under Settings, then Permissions, web access can be set to Ask for some actions, where Muse asks when information may be shared or the website is unfamiliar, or Always ask, where it asks before visiting any website. When Muse asks, the choices can include:
- Allow once
- Muse goes ahead this one time.
- Allow for this task
- Muse can do this kind of action for the whole task.
- Allow for this site
- Muse can do this kind of action on this website in future without asking again.
- Always allow
- Muse can do this kind of action through that Connector (an app or service the customer has linked) in future without asking again.
- Deny
- Muse doesn't go ahead this time.
Meta says some actions can be undone or stopped, but others, such as sending an email, cannot be reversed, just as if the customer had done them. An Activity log keeps a record of what Muse did and what the customer allowed.
When Muse buys from you
Meta's payments page sets out who does what when Muse makes a purchase:
- It asks first
- Muse will always ask for the customer's approval before completing a purchase, and Meta tells customers to check the purchase details and the merchant's terms on the merchant's own site.
- How it pays
- Either with a one-time card number issued for each purchase, so the customer's real card number stays private, or by logging in with the customer's saved details and paying with a saved card.
- You fulfil it
- All orders are fulfilled by the merchant the customer buys from.
- The customer is responsible
- Meta says the customer is responsible for every transaction their Muse makes, and should watch for email confirmations, receipts and statements.
Meta adds that whether Muse can buy may vary with the customer's location, the merchant and the checkout.
Our reading
Hidden instructions and scams
Meta's safety page says websites, emails and files can contain instructions meant to manipulate an AI agent, which it says is sometimes called a prompt injection attack. Muse uses several protections against these, including training, automated detection and limits on what it can reach during a task. Meta says important permission and security checks run separately from the AI model, so they don't depend only on Muse spotting a bad instruction, and many approval checks are enforced outside the model.
Meta also says Muse's safety standards are designed to stop it helping with unlawful activity, such as fraud or scams, and from taking actions that could harm the user or other people.
Our reading
AI phone calls to your business, and opting out
Meta's Help Center page for people who don't use Muse says Meta is experimenting with Muse making phone calls for its users to businesses whose phone numbers are publicly available, for example to ask about opening hours or to make a booking. A business that would prefer not to receive these AI phone calls can opt out using a form on that page, listed in the sources below.
For messages, Meta's getting-started page says that when someone uses Muse to send emails, texts or files to others, they can ask Muse to add a note saying it was generated by their AI agent.
Our reading
Your website: what a robots.txt rule does and doesn't stop
Meta's developer page on its web crawlers (updated 21 May 2026) lists the crawlers Meta runs and says to block one by adding a rule for it in your website's robots.txt file, the standard file that tells crawlers what they may visit. Meta says to allow up to 24 hours for a change to take effect, because crawlers may keep an old copy of the file for that long.
The same page says Meta's crawler that fetches individual links at a user's request, including to help AI navigate websites to complete tasks for users, may bypass robots.txt rules, because the user asked for those visits. Meta's Muse pages don't say how Muse's own browser treats robots.txt.
Our reading
Meta's view: guide agents rather than block them
This part of Meta's announcement is Meta's own position, not a rule. Meta says some businesses have blocked personal agents on their websites, and that it understands why: load spikes, abuse, liability, and keeping the customer relationship. Its answer, in its own words: "Turning away a personal agent means turning away the customer behind it."
Meta says a business that welcomes agents should be able to point them to the path it prefers instead of leaving them to work it out by trial and error. Meta's examples:
- Bookings
- Use this flow for bookings.
- Order tracking
- Use that connector for order tracking.
- Stock
- Check this structured source for real-time inventory.
Meta adds that a connector giving Muse direct access to a business's own systems is often better than browsing, and that it believes many businesses will benefit from their own business agents that deal with Muse directly, so a personal agent can ask a direct question and get an answer from the business.
Our reading
The Personal Agent Protocol Meta previewed
In the 6 October 2026 announcement, Meta said it was previewing its work on the Personal Agent Protocol: an open standard that defines how personal agents interact with businesses. Meta said its Muse and Meta Business Agent teams were developing it with another company and with companies across retail, payments and customer experience.
Meta said it was designing the protocol to handle sign-in, empower consumers, and give companies visibility into what personal agents do through their websites and company agents, and that anyone would be able to implement it. Meta compared it to email, which no one owns and anyone can build on, and said it would share more about the design.
Our reading
Where Muse is available
Meta's Muse Help Centre says the Muse app and website are not yet available everywhere, and some features may not be available in every area. It gives no country list.
Our reading
What this means for your business
BitByteCore is a verified Meta Tech Provider (since 9 September 2026). This guide repeats Meta's pages as we read them on 15 October 2026, and is not legal advice.
Our reading
Questions
Can a customer's AI agent book or buy from my business?
Yes. Meta's 6 October 2026 announcement says Muse buys things, makes appointments and resolves support questions, through a connector or directly on the business's website, when a person asks it to.
Does Muse buy without asking the customer?
No, according to Meta. Its payments page says Muse will always ask for the customer's approval before completing a purchase, and its announcement says Muse seeks approval before signing in, completing a reservation or making a purchase.
Who fulfils an order Muse places, and who is responsible for it?
Meta says all orders are fulfilled by the merchant the customer buys from, and that the customer is responsible for every transaction their Muse makes.
Can I stop AI phone calls from Muse to my business?
Meta says it is experimenting with Muse calling businesses whose numbers are public, for example about opening hours or bookings, and that a business can opt out using a form on its Help Center page for people who don't use Muse.
Will a robots.txt rule keep AI agents off my website?
Meta's crawler page says its crawler that fetches links at a user's request, including to help AI complete tasks on websites, may bypass robots.txt rules, and that changes can take up to 24 hours. Meta's Muse pages don't say how Muse's own browser treats robots.txt. Our reading: the file is not a dependable way to keep agents out.
What is the Personal Agent Protocol?
An open standard Meta previewed on 6 October 2026 that defines how personal agents interact with businesses. Meta said anyone would be able to implement it, and that it would share more about the design.
Who is BitByteCore?
BitByteCore is a verified Meta Tech Provider (since 9 September 2026). This guide repeats Meta's own pages, and is not legal advice.
Sources
- Meta for Business: A new way for businesses and personal agents to work together (6 October 2026), read 15 October 2026.
- Meta Help Center: How your Muse agent browses the web, read 15 October 2026.
- Meta Help Center: How Muse works with payments, read 15 October 2026.
- Meta Help Center: How Muse works with your guidance and approval, read 15 October 2026.
- Meta Help Center: How Muse handles your privacy, safety and security, read 15 October 2026.
- Meta Help Center: Information for people who don't use Muse (includes the AI phone call opt-out), read 15 October 2026.
- Meta Help Center: How to get started with Muse, read 15 October 2026.
- Meta Help Center: How Muse works with Connectors, read 15 October 2026.
- Meta Help Center: Muse Help Centre, read 15 October 2026.
- Meta's developer documentation: Meta web crawlers, read 15 October 2026.
This guide describes Meta's pages as we read them, and is not legal advice. More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.
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