What happened in this Tech story?

Yelp, Delta, and JPMorgan Chase are blocking AI agents from OpenAI, Meta, and Google, citing security concerns and data licensing requirements as the tech giants race to deploy autonomous assistants.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Yelp** only allows AI agents that pay for its data licensing program, while **JPMorgan Chase** and **Charles Schwab** block agents from accessing accounts citing security, and **Delta Air Lines** prevents agents from booking tickets on users' behalf.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**Amazon** sued **Perplexity** after banning its agentic shopping feature last year; an appeals court overturned an initial ruling against Perplexity in August, and Amazon has since filed an amended complaint.

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Websites Shut Out AI Agents From OpenAI, Meta, Google — SkimNews

By The Verge AI · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-10-17

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Yelp only allows AI agents that pay for its data licensing program, while JPMorgan Chase and Charles Schwab block agents from accessing accounts citing security, and Delta Air Lines prevents agents from booking tickets on users' behalf.
Amazon sued Perplexity after banning its agentic shopping feature last year; an appeals court overturned an initial ruling against Perplexity in August, and Amazon has since filed an amended complaint.
Meta's Muse, xAI's Grok, Instinct's agent, and OpenAI's Dots have all been blocked from accessing Amazon, prompting Meta to strike partnerships with Walmart, Gap, Sephora, Best Buy, and Shopify to let Muse shop on those sites.
Cloudflare introduced a one-click block for AI crawlers in 2025 and now blocks crawlers that simultaneously scrape for search indexing and AI training, citing strain on web infrastructure from an influx of AI bots.
Anti-bot systems are catching legitimate agents: Google has flagged accounts using Muse for "suspicious activity," and users report checkout failures on Walmart despite its Meta partnership.
EquiStamp CEO Chris Canal told The Verge the blockages undermine the core pitch of agents from Anthropic and OpenAI, since "there are just fewer useful things the agents can do."

Why it matters: The AI agent business model rests on agents acting anywhere on the web — but if banks, airlines, and retailers lock them out, the utility of products like Muse and Dots shrinks dramatically. Meta's pivot to retail partnerships hints that the agent wars will be won by who can cut deals with websites, not who has the best model.