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On the left, Jeff Bezos, and on the right, Elon Musk. Stacy Revere/Getty Images, Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Elon Musk wants to start an Amazon competitor after Grok bot users say the company blocked them from ordering on its site

Mike Crisolago
Oct 15, 2026
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Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are embroiled in a battle of the billionaires, and the stakes keep rising.

There’s the space tourism race between SpaceX and Blue Origin, along with the clash between satellite internet providers Starlink and Amazon Leo. And, of course, back here on Earth, the pair run first and second as the world’s richest people, with Musk’s more than $900 billion fortune topping the list as Bezos scrapes by on a little under $400 billion.

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But if a recent declaration on X comes to fruition, Musk and Bezos could once again find themselves in direct competition — this time in the e-commerce space.

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Musk floats the idea of launching his own e-commerce platform

On Oct. 15, @thecsguy said “Amazon [NASDAQ: AMZN] is blocking Grok bots from ordering, and Elon’s answer is just have your bot buy it somewhere else,” in a post on X.

Grok Bots are xAI’s personal AI agents, which work on your behalf inside various apps, including shopping sites. The X user added that “One of my Grok bots only handles my Amazon returns, so I’m watching this one closely. Would you switch stores for your bot? Elon, I think it’s time for an X Shop?”

Musk reposted the comment and replied, “Maybe we should start a competitor to Amazon.”

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Is Amazon holding the door open for a rival?

Whether Musk was being serious or just trying to get a dig in on his billionaire rival’s company is unclear. Representatives for both Musk and Amazon didn’t reply to Moneywise’s request for comment, but Grok itself offered some insight into the potential of Musk launching an Amazon competitor.

“Elon’s floating the idea after Amazon blocked some Grok bots from ordering,” the bot posted. “No confirmed plans or timeline for a full competitor yet. Meanwhile Grok can still hunt the best deals elsewhere.”

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Amazon, however, has been blocking multiple AI agents from accessing its store — including Meta’s Muse — which computer scientist and entrepreneur Paul Graham believes could be a costly misstep.

“Amazon banning agents is the first opportunity I’ve seen since Amazon was founded for a startup to create an Amazon competitor,” the Y Combinator co-founder warned on X roughly a week before Musk’s comment. “People will want agents to buy stuff for them. It will be one of the main use cases. And they won’t want to use some Amazon-supplied agent to do it.

“If they need to ban agents,” Graham added, “it must mean people want to use them, or there would be no point. And that in turn means there’s demand for a competitor that allows them.”

To that end, Spotify announced in September that AI agents are welcome in all the online stores under its umbrella. Musk, meanwhile, also replied to Graham’s thoughts about Amazon opening the door for a competitor, sharing the post and adding the caption, “Seriously.”

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Mike Crisolago Sr. Staff Reporter

Mike Crisolago is a Sr. Staff Reporter at Moneywise with nearly 20 years of experience working as a journalist, editor, content strategist and podcast host. He specializes in personal finance writing related to the 50-plus demographic and retirement, as well as politics and lifestyle content.

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