Yes, and on purpose
Android Headlines reported in October 2026: "Amazon recently booted Meta’s Muse off its retail platform, while airlines like Delta are actively blocking external agents from booking flights. Financial heavyweights including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup are also locking out automated bots from customer accounts entirely." [1]
On Hacker News, a commenter answered a developer whose agent was stopped by a CAPTCHA while signing up for an account: "that it was difficult for you to autonomously create accounts is completely intentional." [2]
How a block shows up
OpenAI notes that a site may block its cloud browser "even if the same website works normally in your own browser." [3]
- ›A bot check or CAPTCHA the agent cannot pass.
- ›A page that says access is blocked or denied.
- ›A sign-in that keeps failing even with the right password.
Blocks are the site's rules
OpenAI: "These restrictions are set by the website, not by ChatGPT." [3]
Shopify's terms: "You agree not to access the Services or monitor any material or information from the Services using any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means." [4]
Read the terms of the site you have in mind before you point an agent at it.
What sites offer instead
Many business sites offer a separate seat for someone working for you: a staff account, user permissions or a delegate. Give the agent its own seat with only the access the task needs. Where a site has its own app connection for AI tools, prefer that. See /guides/ai-agent-own-seat-not-your-password.
A seat is not a license to automate. Check what the terms allow on it.
What runnerID will and won't do
- ›Keep the agent's own seat login in the identity's vault and type it into the page, so the model never sees it.
- ›Make authenticator codes and catch emailed codes.
- ›Refuse a site outside the identity's site rules, and wait for your approval on the steps you mark as risky.
- ›Log every action.
- ›Solve CAPTCHAs or work around bot checks.
- ›Make burner accounts or identities for strangers.
- ›Work in bank or brokerage accounts.
When the site wants a person, do that step yourself
OpenAI's advice for its own agent fits here too: "If a website is blocked, try another website or open the page directly in your own browser." [3]
When your agent reaches a step it can't finish, it will hand that step to runnerID, which does it through the identity's own seat and hands back the result, and refuses work a site's terms forbid. Every handoff will be logged. This is coming; it is not part of runnerID today.
Coming to runnerID: signed agent traffic
Signed agent traffic and a fixed IP are coming to runnerID, so a site can tell it is an agent with a known owner. They are not part of runnerID today.
Questions
Which sites block AI agents?
Android Headlines reported in October 2026 that Amazon removed one shopping agent from its retail platform, Delta is blocking outside agents from booking flights, and JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup are locking automated bots out of customer accounts.
Is it against the rules to use an AI agent on a site?
It depends on the site. Check its terms. Some, like Shopify's, forbid accessing the service by automated means.
Can runnerID get past a CAPTCHA?
No, and it does not try.
Can a site allow my agent?
Some offer seats or delegates for people working for you. OpenAI publishes allowlisting instructions for site operators who want to let its cloud browser in. Signed agent traffic is coming to runnerID.
My agent got blocked. What now?
Stop and check the site's terms. If the site offers a seat or an app connection, use that. Otherwise do the step yourself in your own browser.
Related guides
The four walls: credentials, codes, blocked browsers and the agent's own limits.
Read →Staff, delegate and service provider seats.
Read →Four checks before you say yes.
Read →Authenticator, emailed and text codes.
Read →Sources, checked October 25, 2026
- ›1. Android Headlines, banks and retail websites block AI agents: https://www.androidheadlines.com/2026/10/banks-retail-websites-block-ai-agents-promises.html
- ›2. Hacker News comment thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48586196
- ›3. OpenAI Help Center, Using cloud browser in ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001280-using-cloud-browser-in-chatgpt
- ›4. Shopify, Terms of Service: https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms
- ›5. runnerID API docs: https://api.runnerid.torchrunner.ai/llms.txt
Amazon, Meta, Delta, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Shopify and Android Headlines belong to their owners. Hacker News is run by Y Combinator. ChatGPT is a trademark of OpenAI. runnerID and Torchrunner are independent of, and not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them, and the companies named here are not runnerID users.