Episode 193: Adam Epstein on Muse & Agentic Commerce, Plus TTD Blocked on Safari and Amazon UnBoxed

Adam Epstein, CEO of Gigi, joins Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi to explore the rise of agentic commerce and what AI agents like Meta’s Muse could mean for shopping, advertising, and consumer behavior. They discuss Amazon’s decision to restrict third-party AI agents, the role of advertising revenue in protecting commerce ecosystems, opportunities in travel and retail, and whether consumers will trust AI to make purchases on their behalf. Plus, Ari Paparo and Eric Franchi break down The Trade Desk’s Safari ad-serving issue, Amazon unBoxed announcements, AI assistants, and the growing battle for consumer AI adoption. Takeaways AI agents are shifting from answering questions to taking actions for consumers. Consumer trust and permissions will be critical to agentic commerce adoption. Amazon has strong incentives to protect its shopping experience and advertising revenue from third-party AI agents. Travel could become a major use case for AI-powered transactions and bookings. Meta’s ecosystem could give Muse a powerful path to adoption, particularly for commerce and small businesses. Chapters 00:00 Amazon unBoxed and conference highlights 03:02 Meta Muse and real-world AI agent use cases 06:37 The Trade Desk blocked from serving ads on Safari 11:37 Amazon’s AI-powered advertising updates 12:38 Branded Conversations and conversational commerce 15:14 Delta enters the travel media network space 17:19 OpenAI, LiveRamp and AI advertising 19:00 The battle for consumer AI assistants 20:45 Meta expands Muse for SMBs and enterprise 23:11 Anthropic, AI economics and the future of adtech 26:15 Adam Epstein joins the podcast 26:49 Amazon unBoxed and Sponsored Reviews 30:00 Is agentic commerce really the future? 31:00 What makes an effective AI agent? 33:30 Will mainstream consumers adopt AI agents? 36:06 Why AI agents still struggle with everyday tasks 38:00 Why Amazon is blocking third-party AI agents 42:46 Instacart, AI agents and grocery commerce 44:18 Why travel could be transformed by agentic commerce 45:21 How brands could compete inside AI agents 48:12 Testing Muse in real-world situations 51:35 Meta, Shopify and the future of agentic commerce 53:39 Closing thoughts Guests: Ari Paparo, Eric Franchi, Adam Epstein Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices