Episode summary
Meta’s New Muse AI App Makes Shopping Easier | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 17 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Scarlet Fu · Guests: Mandeep Singh, Henrietta Treyz, Sherrod DeGrippo
Summary
Meta’s new Muse AI app was presented as a consumer shopping agent that can surface discount codes, compare prices across apps and websites, and potentially complete purchases end to end. The guest said the app is already showing promise because it can pull together shopping information efficiently, but the biggest constraint is access: retailers such as Amazon or Airbnb may block the data and payments needed for true agent-to-agent commerce. The host and guest argued that this could threaten the direct traffic and advertising model that platforms rely on today.
The discussion then shifted to Washington and trade policy after President Trump’s remarks at the United Nations. The guest said the market should not expect an Iran deal before the election, and argued Trump is likely to become more aggressive after the vote, with less restraint on Cuba, tariffs and foreign policy. She said a post-election move toward higher tariffs on Chinese goods remains a real possibility, even if there is some near-term relief on selected consumer goods.
A final segment focused on cyber defense and AI. The guest said threat actors are already using AI to speed up phishing, vulnerability testing and ransomware operations, which is shortening response windows for defenders. She argued companies will need to use AI tools to fight AI-driven attacks, even if that forces larger security budgets and harder tradeoffs for CISOs and CFOs.
Key takeaways
- The guest said Meta’s Muse app can compare prices, find discount codes and potentially complete transactions, but only if retailers allow access to their systems.
- The guest argued Amazon and similar platforms may resist agentic shopping because it could reduce direct traffic and ad revenue.
- The guest said Trump is unlikely to strike an Iran deal before the election and may act more aggressively on Cuba and trade afterward.
- The guest expects some tariff relief for selected consumer goods, but said post-election tariffs on Chinese imports could rise again.
- The guest said AI is already helping cybercriminals move faster, compressing the time between intrusion and ransom demands.
Notable quotes
“just ask um Muse a question and it will give you the best discount codes”
“it can actually do the full transaction because they want to integrate payments, they want to do this end to end, an agent working on behalf of the user”
“All the like look at what you do on Amazon. You go to the Amazon page, you spend 5 minutes looking at different items”
“There will be winners and losers here. Some companies want the tariffs to stay and others want to see them lifted”
“You have to use the AI tooling to fight the AI tooling that the thread actors are using”
How the episode opens
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Paul, you have a section on your phone that you created a new folder of AI apps. Darn right I did. — And you started using some of them. How many do you have right now? — I got four or five. I'm It's got my AI. I've got four. I've got Chat GPT.
Okay. — Claude, Gemini, and now I downloaded today. Muse. — Okay. That is Meta's new AI app. Um it's free to use. I provided you don't go over your limit. Um have you used it yet? — No. — Okay. Well, Mandep Singh, he's our global head of tech research here at Bloomberg Intelligence. He knows a thing or two about Meta and of course about their AI ambitions. And Mandep, you've used this news app and you said that it's pretty good, which is in line with what a lot of uh folks have been saying, which is why the stock uh soared yesterday.
Yeah, I mean this app has got a couple of very good use cases uh to serve as personal agents, which is what they're pitching for. Uh so I'll mention you know uh just if you want discount codes for any brand that you're shopping on the internet like you you look for discount codes through Google searches and all that just ask um Muse a question and it will give you the best discount codes.
But do the discount codes work? Because I asked Google the same thing and Google will give me a whole bunch of discount codes and when you applied it says nope not.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- meta muse ai app
- consumer ai assistants
- ai regulation
- frontier model risk
- un ai policy
Companies and tickers mentioned
- META
- Meta Platforms Inc.
- Veda Partners
- Unit 42
Watch the episode
Watch “Meta’s New Muse AI App Makes Shopping Easier | Bloomberg Intelligence” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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