AI agents disrupt banks, brokers, and travel booking companies as Meta’s Muse reshapes consumer behavior

The business model that kept banks and travel platforms profitable for decades can be summed up in two words: consumer inertia. People don’t switch checking accounts because it’s annoying. They rebook on Expedia because the app is already on their phone. Meta’s new AI agent, Muse, is now threatening to do the switching for them. On September 22, Expedia shares dropped 3.7% and Booking Holdings fell 3.9%. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo each declined more than 2.5%. Allstate and Charles Schwab took it worse, falling over 5%. The catalyst was simple: Muse had crossed 2.5 million downloads in just two weeks, and investors started doing the math on what happens when an AI agent can book flights, compare deposit rates, and execute financial transactions without ever touching a bank’s app or a travel aggregator’s website. What Muse actually does Meta built Muse as an agentic AI, meaning it doesn’t just answer questions. It acts. Through an integration with Duffel, Muse can search and book flights across more than 500 airlines, effectively bypassing online travel agencies like Expedia and Booking Holdings entirely. On the financial side, it can compare savings rates, initiate transfers, and hand...