Amazon lists 250 million products from rival sites in effort to battle AI agents

[The Information] Amazon has stepped up its Shop Direct initiative, which promotes products from brands that don't sell on Amazon's site, potentially giving shoppers less reason to turn to outside AI tools that can buy across retailers, according to The Information. The company now has 250 million listings that link to products sold elsewhere, about 2.5 times as many as in March, and is highlighting the goods more prominently through curated style edits and other displays on its site. The report said Amazon has for more than a year blocked outside shopping agents from its site while finding ways for its own customers to shop elsewhere, and that a new wave of AI assistants such as Meta's Muse is raising the stakes.