Agents · 2026-11-06
After blocking Muse, Amazon now lets users text Alexa to shop
Amazon is launching a feature that lets users search for products, add them to the cart, and buy through regular text messages to its Alexa AI assistant.
What's new
Amazon is launching a feature that lets people chat with its Alexa AI assistant over text messages to help them shop. The company announced it on Friday. Other AI agents, including Muse and Instinct, already work this way.
Earlier, Amazon blocked Meta's Muse from querying its site, so it did not let Muse search for products there. Now Amazon offers its own option, and the launch comes just before the start of the holiday shopping season.
What Alexa can do over text
People can write to Alexa in plain language, for example describing what they are looking for. The assistant can find an item, add it to the cart, and place the order. It also manages shopping lists, tracks prices, searches the web, compares products, and shows the status of orders.
Users can send a photo of an item or an outfit they like, and Alexa will look for similar listings on Amazon. According to the company, over time Alexa will learn users' preferences and suggest items accordingly.
Who can use it
For now, the feature is available only to select customers in the U.S. Users who have not been invited can sign up for a waitlist. The company says the feature will be rolled out more broadly in the coming weeks, and the article's summary states it is expected to reach millions of users.
Context
AI agents that make purchases on their own are becoming popular. Last month, DoorDash said that third-party agents had so far placed only hundreds of orders in total on its platform. The company plans to focus on its own text-based agent, launched in September.
Useful from the source
- Waitlist for text-based shopping with Alexa — A page where people can sign up to get access to shopping through text messages with Alexa.
Sources: 🔗 TechCrunch — AI🔗 The Verge — AI