According to Tom’s Guide, Amazon has quietly blocked OpenAI’s ChatGPT from accessing its website, specifically preventing the AI’s new Shopping Research feature from tapping live Amazon listings, prices, or reviews. The feature just launched on Monday and was designed to help users find gift ideas and product recommendations across multiple retailers. Amazon updated its robots.txt file to disallow multiple OpenAI crawlers, including “ChatGPT-User” and “OAI-SearchBot.” This change means ChatGPT can no longer show Amazon deals at all, hitting right as Black Friday shopping kicks into high gear. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy confirmed the company is “having conversations” with third-party shopping agents but expects to “find ways to partner” in the future.
Why Amazon slammed the door
Here’s the thing: Amazon isn’t being subtle about this. They’re basically telling OpenAI, “You can’t use our data to build your shopping assistant.” And honestly, can you blame them? Amazon has spent decades building its product catalog, reviews, and pricing data – that’s their crown jewel. The company is clearly worried that AI agents could scrape their site, learn from their data, and then steer customers to buy elsewhere. It’s a classic case of a platform protecting its turf. Plus, let’s not forget Amazon has its own AI ambitions with Alexa+. Why would they help a competitor build a better shopping experience?
What this means for your holiday shopping
So what happens now when you ask ChatGPT for shopping advice? Basically, it becomes Amazon-blind. Modern Retail’s tests show that when you specifically ask for Amazon picks, ChatGPT either recommends products from other retailers or tells you to check Amazon yourself. It’s like having a personal shopper who’s banned from the biggest department store in the world. You’ll still get product comparisons and recommendations, but anything Amazon-specific – including Prime deals and exclusive discounts – requires manual checking. During the busiest shopping season of the year, that’s a pretty significant limitation.
The bigger AI commerce war
This blocking move reveals something important about the future of AI and e-commerce. We’re heading toward a world where data access becomes the new battleground. Amazon’s decision shows they’re taking AI shopping agents seriously enough to actively block them. But here’s the question: will other major retailers follow suit? If Walmart, Target, and Best Buy all start blocking AI crawlers, what happens to these “smart shopping” features? They could become pretty useless pretty fast. Meanwhile, Amazon’s own bots documentation shows they’re playing by the rules – for now. But this feels like just the opening move in what’s going to be a long game of cat and mouse between AI companies and e-commerce giants.
