// THE VERGE — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
The RealReal won’t let AI agents hog designer clothing
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Previous reporting by The Verge found that Meta’s Muse could be used to effectively block other shoppers from purchasing items for hours.
Previous reporting by The Verge found that Meta’s Muse could be used to effectively block other shoppers from purchasing items for hours.
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The RealReal, a secondhand luxury fashion consignment retailer, said it’s updating its bot defense system, effectively making it harder for AI agents to shop on its site.
The change comes days after The Verge reported that an AI agent could be used to take advantage of The RealReal’s item reserve system. On the retailer’s website, an item goes “on hold” and is unavailable for other customers to buy for 20 minutes once it’s placed in a user’s shopping cart. Using Meta’s Muse, The Verge was able to instruct the AI agent to continuously re-add The RealReal listings in a shopping cart as soon as the 20-minute hold had expired, effectively blocking other shoppers from purchasing products for hours or longer.
After publication, chief technology officer Luke Friang said in an email that the company had addressed the Muse use case flagged by The Verge’s story. The RealReal’s bot defense configuration now makes it much more difficult for all agents to log in, add items to cart, and check out, Friang said. Agents will still be able to surface listings from The RealReal and direct Muse users to product pages, Friang said, adding that the company will continue to strengthen protections as AI-powered online shopping evolves.