Amazon has issued a legal warning to Perplexity over its new agentic AI shopping tool. The AI firm has confirmed the legal threat from Amazon.com, which demanded that it block the AI agent on its Comet browser from shopping on Amazon’s platform on a user's behalf.
The e-commerce giant claimed that the new AI agents infringed on Amazon’s retail operations and data ecosystem.
The dispute revolves around the Comet Assistant, an AI agent by Perplexity. It allows users to quickly find, compare, and purchase items on e-commerce websites, including Amazon, by using customers’ secure, logged-in credentials.
"Easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers. But Amazon doesn't care; they're more interested in serving you ads," Perplexity said in response to Amazon’s legal notice.
In a news blog, Amazon stated: "We think it’s fairly straightforward that third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers from other businesses should operate openly and respect service provider decisions whether or not to participate. This helps ensure a positive customer experience, and it is how others operate, including food delivery apps and the restaurants they take orders for, delivery service apps and the stores they shop from, and online travel agencies and the airlines they book tickets with for customers.”
“Agentic third-party applications such as Perplexity’s Comet have the same obligations, and we’ve repeatedly requested that Perplexity remove Amazon from the Comet experience, particularly in light of the significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience it provides,” the post claimed.
Perplexity called the move a broader threat to user choice and the future of AI assistants. "Bullying is when large corporations use legal threats and intimidation to block innovation and make life worse for people," the company wrote in a blog post.
In a post in X, CEO of Perplexity, Aravind Srinivas, wrote, “We would be happy to work together with Amazon to figure out a win-win outcome for both us and them. But attempts to block our Comet Assistant on Amazon and hurt our users, we will have to stand up for them and not get bullied by Amazon.”
The clash between Amazon.com and Perplexity highlights an emerging debate over regulating the increasing use of AI agents and how they interact with websites.
Perplexity, valued recently at around $20 billion, has shown potential to reinvent the web browser around artificial intelligence, which aims to make it more autonomous and capable of handling daily online activities, from drafting emails to shopping.
Amazon itself is developing similar tools, including "Buy For Me". This feature allows users to shop across brands within its app, and "Rufus", an AI assistant that can recommend products and manage carts.
The AI agent on Perplexity's Comet browser acts as an assistant to make purchases and comparisons on behalf of users. The company also confirmed that “user credentials remain stored locally” and “never on its servers”.
Also Read: Is Perplexity's AI Browser Comet too Smart to Replace Human Workforce?
Perplexity argued that users should have the right to choose their own AI assistants, claiming Amazon's move was an attempt to safeguard its ad-driven business model. The company also stated it was a “threat to all internet users.”
Meanwhile, OpenAI has recently launched a ChatGPT Atlas web browser on Apple computers that is capable of shopping at some websites. Similar AI agent shopping capabilities are expected to be added to Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers soon.
If Perplexity survives the legal battle, it could bring in a new era of automated and AI-driven shopping experience. For Amazon, the issue is about retaining control in a market rapidly shifting toward personalized and algorithm-led discovery.