AI is turning up on the customer's side of the counter. Meta, Sierra, Walmart, Stripe, Shopify and others are developing the Personal Agent Protocol so businesses can recognise agents acting for real customers. v0.1 spec due later this month; OpenAI and Anthropic not yet involved.
What was announced
On Tuesday 6 October, Sierra and Meta announced the Personal Agent Protocol, an open standard they are developing with Genesys, Instinct, Rocket, Shopify, Stripe and Walmart. Sierra says it is designed to "handle authentication, empower consumers and give companies visibility into what personal agents do through their websites, APIs or company agents," and that it is open for anyone to implement.
A v0.1 specification, design workshops and a reference implementation are planned for later this month; granular permissions and payment extensions are under consideration. Sierra co-founder Bret Taylor told CNBC "it is kind of chaos until such a standard exists." OpenAI and Anthropic are not currently part of it.
Why a door policy is being written now
Separately, TechCrunch reported that personal agents such as Meta's Muse are often blocked by websites, some deliberately (Amazon is blocking Muse; Yelp only allows agents that pay for data access) and some by accident, through "verify you are human" checks. Meta said: "Turning away a personal agent means turning away the customer behind it." This is a draft standard led by US platforms; no UK adoption or timetable has been announced.
Coverage context
A draft open standard now sits on the record for how personal agents should identify themselves when they book or buy. Many sites are still blocking those agents, and OpenAI and Anthropic are not yet in the group.
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