Amazon Blocks AI Shopping Bots - Should You?

Seems like the "new thing" for consumers in 2025 is tools to browse the web for them (us) and get stuff done (e.g., order groceries, book a flight). Yes, browsing websites can be tedious especially when we really need to get something done (i.e., complete tasks). Early versions of these tools literally crawled around webpages, mapped them, and replicated humans clicking on buttons. (For me, this is a little bit of tech companies demonstrating what is possible rather than give consumers what they need.)

The implications of bots vs. humans browsing websites are huge. Brands have poured millions of dollars into personalizing greetings, images, layouts, recommendations, and more to appeal to a HUMAN - not the bot sent to execute a task on behalf of the human. Bots won't be swayed by immersive images on pages. And is personalization even possible unless the bot logs in on behalf of the consumer? And then who is responsible for the bot's behavior? What if it orders 100 bouquets of flowers rather than one?

Amazon is blocking these tools from their website to protect their data and business model (e.g., their advertising business).

Unfortunately, it is unclear if these new tools simply demo what is possible, truly deliver convenience, or are simply a poorly disguised tactic to disintermediate brands from their consumers.

New protocols are emerging (i.e., MCP) to allow bots to crawl websites and get stuff done. As a website owner, I'm still on the fence. I don't mind where people read my blogs or posts. I would like them to know they are mine.

Summary from Gemini:

Amazon is blocking AI bots and web crawlers from scraping its platform by updating its robots.txt file and implementing more robust AI web-crawlers. This is a response to AI-powered agents from companies like Google, Meta, and OpenAI attempting to scrape product listings and prices to train their models, which Amazon views as a threat to its proprietary data and business interests. 

Press from Modern Retail.