Amazon Threatens Legal Action Against Perplexity Over AI Shopping Agent

Amazon sends legal threats to Perplexity over agentic browsing | TechCrunch

Amazon has told Perplexity to get its agentic browser out of its online store, the companies both confirmed publicly on Tuesday. After warning Perplexity multiple times that Comet, its AI-powered shopping assistant, was violating Amazon's terms of service by not identifying itself as an agent, the ecommerce giant sent the AI search engine startup a sternly worded cease-and-desist letter, Perplexity wrote in a blog post entitled "Bullying is not innovation." "This week, Perplexity received an aggressive legal threat from Amazon, demanding we prohibit Comet users from using their AI assistants on Amazon. This is Amazon's first legal salvo against an AI company, and it is a threat to all internet users," Perplexity lamented in the blog post. Perplexity's argument is that, since its agent is acting on behalf of a human user's direction, the agent automatically has the "same permissions" as the human user. The implication is that it doesn't have to identify itself as an agent. Amazon's response points out that other third-party agents working at the behest of human users do identify themselves. "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," Amazon's statement explains. If Amazon is to be believed, then Perplexity could simply identify its agent and start shopping. Of course, the risk is that Amazon, which has its own shopping bot called Rufus, could also block Comet -- or any other third-party agentic shopper -- from its site. Amazon suggests as much as its statement, which also says, "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." Perplexity claims that Amazon would block the shopping bot because Amazon wants to sell advertising and product placements. Unlike human shoppers, a bot tasked with buying a new laundry basket presumably wouldn't find itself buying a more expensive one, or getting lured into buying the latest Brandon Sanderson novel and a new set of earphones (on sale!). If all of this sounds a bit familiar, that's because it is. A few months ago, Cloudflare published research accusing Perplexity of scraping websites while specifically defying requests from websites blocking AI bots. Interestingly, many people came to Perplexity's defense that time, because this wasn't a clear-cut case of web crawler bad behavior. Cloudflare documented how the AI was accessing a specific public website when its user asked about that specific website. Perplexity fans argued that this is exactly what every human-operated web browser does. On the other hand, Perplexity was using some questionable methods to do that accessing when a website opted out of bots, like hiding its identity. As TechCrunch reported at that time, that was a harbinger of things to come if the agentic world materializes as Silicon Valley predicts it will. If consumers and companies outsource their shopping, travel bookings, and restaurant reservations to bots, will it be in the best interest of websites to block bots entirely? How will they allow and work with them? Perplexity may be right in that Amazon is setting a precedent. As the 800-pound gorilla in ecommerce, it is clearly saying that the way this should work is for an agent to identify itself and let the website decide.

Amazon and Perplexity have kicked off the great AI web browser fight

Amazon doesn't want to be a part of Perplexity's AI-powered shopping experience. In a post on Tuesday, the ecommerce giant says it has "repeatedly requested" that Perplexity stop allowing its Comet AI browser to buy products for customers, which Perplexity has responded to by accusing Amazon of "bullying." Perplexity's AI browser, Comet, currently offers an agentic AI feature that can find and purchase products from various websites -- including Amazon -- on your behalf. But now, Perplexity says it has received an "aggressive legal threat" from Amazon that demands that it stop allowing its AI assistant to shop for users -- something the AI startup claims is at odds with Amazon's values. "Amazon should love this. Easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers," Perplexity writes. "But Amazon doesn't care. They're more interested in serving you ads, sponsored results, and influencing your purchasing decisions with upsells and confusing offers." In the post, Perplexity also cites a quote from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who said during an earnings call last week that the company expects to "partner with third-party agents" over time. "This is like if you went to a store and the store only allowed you to hire a personal shopper who worked for the store," Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer said in a statement to The Verge. "That's not a personal shopper -- that's a sales associate." Meanwhile, Amazon's statement says third-party applications that purchase products for customers on its site "should respect service provider decisions whether or not to participate," claiming that Comet provides a "significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience."

Amazon Sends Perplexity a Cease and Desist Over Its AI Agents Shopping for You

(Credit: Charles-McClintock Wilson / iStock Editorial / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images) Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. In a case of Big Tech versus an emerging AI startup, Amazon is demanding that Perplexity stop its agentic web browser, Comet, from buying products on behalf of humans. "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," Amazon says. As Bloomberg reports, Amazon accuses Perplexity of violating its terms of service and committing computer fraud by failing to disclose when the AI is shopping for a user. It reportedly asked Perplexity to stop using its AI agents on Amazon a year ago, and Perplexity agreed. That changed, however, with the launch of Comet. "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," says Amazon. In our tests, the Comet browser was able to purchase a product on Amazon when we asked it to, without requiring us to log in or enter credit card information. It already had access to the account and completed the action independently. "It took about 30 seconds before it prompted me to confirm, which I did, and it placed the order using my default payment method and address," says PCMag's Ruben Circelli. "It's definitely easy, and it seems to work, at least on Amazon." Perplexity published a strongly worded statement over what it called Amazon's "aggressive legal threat," accusing the tech giant of bullying and using litigation to stifle innovation. "Amazon should love this," Perplexity says. "Easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers. But Amazon doesn't care. They're more interested in serving you ads, sponsored results, and influencing your purchasing decisions with upsells and confusing offers." Amazon may take issue with its customers using another company's tools, rather than its own, like the "Help Me Decide" AI shopping assistant it debuted last month, to make purchases. Perplexity's experience also does not require customers to visit Amazon's website, potentially devaluing it and limiting opportunities for browsing and additional purchases. Perplexity claims Amazon is trying to "make life worse," and argues that the e-commerce giant "shouldn't forget what it's like to be our size and passionate about a world-changing product." Still, agentic AI browsers are nascent technologies with known issues. Even OpenAI admitted that its ChatGPT Atlas is flawed and can purchase the wrong product on behalf of users. "ChatGPT agent is powerful and helpful, and designed to be safe, but it can still make (sometimes surprising!) mistakes, like trying to buy the wrong product or forgetting to check in with you before taking an important action," OpenAI Chief Information Security Officer Dane Stuckey wrote on X shortly after Atlas' release. The main reason this would happen, Stuckey says, is a prompt injection attack, or when a hacker embeds "malicious instructions in websites, emails, or other sources, to try to trick [an AI] agent into behaving in unintended ways." In other words, the customer could ask the AI to buy toilet paper, but an injected prompt could instruct the AI to ignore that directive and buy something else instead. Perplexity's response does not acknowledge these risks. Instead, it taps into the long-term potential for AI. "With the rise of agentic AI, software is also becoming labor: an assistant, an employee, an agent," it says. "Today, Amazon announced it does not believe in your right to hire labor, to have an assistant or an employee acting on your behalf." Amazon's response to AI-powered shopping differs from Walmart's, which last month signed a deal with OpenAI to allow ChatGPT users to shop its catalogue. With OpenAI's Instant Checkout technology, shoppers can purchase a Walmart item without ever leaving the ChatGPT interface or visiting Walmart.com. "This is agentic commerce in action," Walmart said. Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Amazon.com warns Perplexity its shopping bot isn't welcome

Perplexity likens Amazon's legal threat to an attempt to ban access to ... wrenches? Amazon.com has sent a cease and desist letter to Perplexity in which it insists the AI company prevent its Comet browser from making automated purchases on behalf of users. Comet, like OpenAI's Atlas and several other browsers, includes a large language model that can automate web browsing and do things like make online purchases when instructed by users. Both sides are going to have to bleed before they realize that they're better off working together Amazon argues that third-party applications capable of making purchases on behalf of its customers should seek permission from the e-commerce giant before enabling that capability, to ensure a positive customer experience. "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 company said in a statement. The Register understands that Perplexity's software tries to avoid detection in order to interact with Amazon's web store. Reddit's lawsuit against Perplexity makes a similar claim about Comet trying to work stealthily. Another of Amazon's concerns appears to be that Comet's AI agent may purchase products other than those the e-commerce giant's personalized product recommendations suggest. Amazon could make its personalization data available to Perplexity's Comet if the two companies chose to cooperate, but that might also entail financial consideration in exchange for the data integration. Plus Amazon may prefer to focus on its own native AI agent, Rufus. Coincidentally, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos invested in Perplexity last year through his Bezos Expeditions Fund. Perplexity objects to Amazon's demand and has published a lengthy blog post characterizing the e-tail giant's stance as "a threat to all internet users." That overstates the popularity of AI agents for e-commerce. According to a February 2025 survey of 1,026 US respondents by Omnisend, "66 percent of consumers refuse to let AI make purchases for them, even if it promises better deals." But it may be that interest in automated online shopping is growing. In any event, Perplexity considers Amazon's demands to be bullying. The AI company's legal analysis reads as if it were written by AI. "For the last 50 years, software has been a tool, like a wrench in the hands of the user," the company said in its post. "But with the rise of agentic AI, software is also becoming labor: an assistant, an employee, an agent. "The law is clear that large corporations have no right to stop you from owning wrenches. Today, Amazon announced it does not believe in your right to hire labor, to have an assistant or an employee acting on your behalf. This isn't a reasonable legal position, it's a bully tactic to scare disruptive companies like Perplexity out of making life better for people." To be clear, your wrenches are safe. But software touches on different legal issues and Perplexity's claims about AI agents are not clear even to legal experts. The company for example says that AI agents are distinct from crawlers, scrapers, and bots, without explaining how that's so. The company goes on to argue, "Publishers and corporations have no right to discriminate against users based on which AI they've chosen to represent them. Users must have the right to choose technologies that represent them." The Register asked OpenAI and Anthropic whether either has received a cease and desist letter from Amazon related to AI browsing, but we've not heard back. Perplexity did not respond to a request to say whether it intends to comply with Amazon's demand. Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman told The Register that Comet leverages the credentials of Amazon customers to make purchases on their behalf and said: "It is possible for any service to restrict how a user discloses their credentials. They could say in their terms of service that you can't disclose your credentials to any third party." Goldman added that there are reasons Amazon might not want to do that, because users may find it useful to have services that act as proxies on their behalf. "So, for example, a lot of financial apps will ask for banks' login credentials so that they can go and gather data from the banks for the user but also potentially enable transactions on their behalf," Goldman explained. "So banks could shut that down. But if they do, they're cutting off a segment of users who actually would value that form of access over any other." But if Amazon did disallow the disclosure of credentials under its terms of service, Goldman said, the user would be in breach of that agreement by sharing them with Comet, and Perplexity might face some additional liability for acting on credentials it's not supposed to have. Goldman also said Amazon could choose to block Comet specifically, if Amazon could reliably identify the browser - a challenge that has vexed companies that have tried to block AI company crawlers. That's not a terms of use question but a technical self-help remedy, Goldman said. Goldman said it's unclear whether Amazon might prevail if it pursues a computer fraud claim in court, should Perplexity refuses to negotiate or change its behavior. "The courts are in complete chaos on this question, especially after [the US Supreme Court's decision [PDF] in Van Buren v. United States]. Nobody really knows anything about the legitimacy of scraping today." Goldman added that what Comet is doing may not be the same as web scraping. "Distinguishing between web browsing, scraping, and agentic AI access is going to be extremely difficult for the law," he said. He said the dispute reminds him of carriage contract battles between cable TV companies and broadcasters. "It's like one of those things where both sides are going to have to bleed before they realize that they're better off working together," he said. "And that's what happened in all those carriage disputes. As you know, eventually somebody's losing some money and then they start talking." ®

Perplexity AI accuses Amazon of bullying with legal threat over Comet browser

Aravind Srinivas, chief executive officer of Perplexity AI Inc., during the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, June 5, 2025. Perplexity AI accused Amazon of "bullying" on Tuesday after it received a letter from the e-commerce giant demanding it prevent people from using its artificial intelligence browser Comet to make purchases on their behalf. In a blog post, Perplexity said users can ask its Comet Assistant to find items and make purchases on Amazon, and that they "love this experience." But Perplexity said it received "an aggressive legal threat" from Amazon "demanding" that it put a stop to that practice. Amazon has already taken steps in recent months to prevent external AI agents from crawling its website, including those developed by OpenAI, Google and Meta. "Amazon should love this. Easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers. But Amazon doesn't care," Perplexity wrote. "They're more interested in serving you ads, sponsored results, and influencing your purchasing decisions with upsells and confusing offers." Amazon did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Amazon and Perplexity are fighting over the future of AI shopping

Amazon has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity that demands that the AI startup prevents its Comet browser from making purchases on Amazon, Bloomberg reports. In a blog post responding to Amazon's letter, Perplexity claims Amazon is "bullying" the company and that its demands pose "a threat to all internet users." In Amazon's eyes, Comet's agent violates its terms of service, degrades the Amazon shopping experience and introduces privacy vulnerabilities, Bloomberg writes. Amazon's "Conditions of Use" for Amazon.com specifically prohibit "any downloading, copying, or other use of account information for the benefit of any third party" and "any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools." Depending on your definition, the agentic capabilities Perplexity offers through Comet could violate both clauses. The browser securely stores log-in credentials for websites locally, and uses them to make purchases for customers on Amazon with a simple command. Perplexity and Amazon agreed to pause agentic shopping on Amazon in November 2024, according to the report, but when Comet was released, Perplexity allowed it again. By representing the Comet agent as a Chrome browser user rather than a bot, the company allegedly tried to get around the agreement, until Amazon found out and sent its cease-and-desist letter. Amazon posted the statement below on its blog, openly acknowledging the issues it has with Perplexity: Complicating Amazon's claims, Perplexity might be a future shopping rival. Amazon demoed its own AI shopping agent called "Buy for Me" in April 2025. But Perplexity also disagrees with the fundamentals of Amazon's argument. "User agents are exactly that: agents of the user," Perplexity says. "They're distinct from crawlers, scrapers, or bots." Perplexity believes the Comet agent shouldn't run afoul of Amazon's terms and conditions then because it acts on the users' behalf, with the users' permission. This isn't the first time Perplexity has been accused of misrepresenting its AI tools to access content. In August, Cloudflare claimed that the company's bots were accessing blocked websites by pretending to be a normal Chrome browser user on macOS. Reddit also sued Perplexity and three other companies earlier this month for accessing Reddit posts without paying for a license.

Amazon Sends Cease-and-Desist to Perplexity Over AI Agent Purchases - Decrypt

The dispute highlights growing tension over "agentic browsers" like Comet, ChatGPT Atlas, and Opera Neon. In an early showdown over the rise of "agentic" browsers, Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity AI demanding that its Comet assistant stop making purchases on the site. Amazon accused the AI search startup of disguising bots as human shoppers and violating its terms of service. The e-commerce giant said Perplexity's agent "degraded the Amazon shopping experience" and introduced privacy risks by acting on users' behalf without disclosure, according to a letter first reported by Bloomberg. Perplexity pushed back against the claims, calling them a bullying tactic. "Amazon's claims are typical legal bluster and completely unfounded," a company spokesperson told Decrypt. "What if stores said you can only hire a personal shopper who works for the store? That's not a personal shopper, it's a sales associate." Agentic browsers embed autonomous AI agents that act on the user's behalf, automating tasks like filling out forms, booking travel, or making purchases without manual clicks. Recent rollouts include Perplexity AI's Comet, OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas, BrowserOS, and Opera Neon. In September, OpenAI introduced an "Instant Checkout" feature in ChatGPT that allowed AI agents to complete purchases for users via chat after integrating in-app shopping earlier this year. In a blog post titled "Bullying Is Not Innovation," Perplexity called Amazon's legal threat "dangerous" and framed the dispute as a fight over user autonomy. "It's dangerous to confuse consumer experience with consumer exploitation," Perplexity wrote. "Users want AI they can trust, and they want AI assistants that work on their behalf and no one else's." The post argued that users have the right to "hire their own digital assistants," and that "publishers and corporations have no right to discriminate against users based on which AI they've chosen to represent them." Amazon's terms prohibit any use of data mining, robots, or similar data-gathering and extraction tools. Amazon said Comet disguised automated logins as a Google Chrome browser; after Amazon blocked the activity, Perplexity released an update to bypass the restriction. Amazon defended its position, saying that third-party AI agents must operate transparently and in cooperation with participating businesses. "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," Amazon said in a statement. "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." Amazon said it remains open to agentic experiences that operate transparently and enhance customer value. Perplexity maintained that Comet, when shopping, only uses the customer's own credentials stored locally on their device -- not on Perplexity's servers -- and argued that its agents "act solely on the user's behalf." It also accused Amazon of being more interested in "serving ads and influencing purchasing decisions with upsells and confusing offers" than improving customer experience. Perplexity is a major customer of Amazon Web Services running its infrastructure on AWS, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is an investor, adding irony to a conflict that pits two intertwined companies against each other in defining who controls the next era of web automation. For now, Amazon's cease-and-desist marks one of the first formal challenges to how AI browsers operate when they search, click, and shop online. "The future of agentic commerce will depend on users' right to choose and trust their own AI agents," Perplexity AI's spokesperson said.

Amazon and Perplexity Clash Over Deployment of Third-Party AI Shopping Agents | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. Perplexity said in a Tuesday (Nov. 4) blog post that it received an "aggressive legal threat" from Amazon demanding that it prohibit the users of its Comet browser from using their AI assistants to shop on Amazon's platform. The AI startup said in its post that it will not be intimidated and will fight to ensure users can deploy agentic AI "to take control of their digital lives." "Amazon [...] forgets how it got so big," Perplexity said in its post. "Users love it. They want good products, at a low price, delivered fast. Agentic shopping is the natural evolution of this promise, and people already demand it. Perplexity demands the right to offer it." In a statement posted on its website in response to Perplexity, Amazon said that it thinks it is "fairly straightforward" that third-party applications offering to make purchases for customers from other businesses should respect businesses' decisions about 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 airlines they book tickets with for customers," Amazon said in its statement. "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 company said. It was reported in July that Amazon was taking steps to block other companies' AI shopping tools from its website. The eCommerce giant updated the code on its site to include language that keeps out new AI agents from Google, and it took similar precautions with bots from companies like Perplexity, Anthropic and OpenAI. PYMNTS reported in September that the rise and evolution of agentic AI have compelled companies to assess both the economic potential and the associated risks of this emerging technology.

Amazon demands Perplexity 'cease and desist' AI agent Comet (AMZN)

Amazon (AMZN) is demanding Perplexity stop its AI browser, Comet, from making purchases for users on the Amazon marketplace, a practice the ecommerce giant claims is illegal and unethical by not disclosing its activity to users. In Amazon's cease and If AI agents shop for users, fewer consumers see paid ad placements, reducing Amazon's ad revenue. These agents can degrade the customer experience, provide inaccurate information, and violate Amazon's data gathering rules. Amazon is acting to protect its platform control and ad business by restricting unauthorized AI agents, indicating a cautious integration of AI alternatives.

Perplexity responds to Amazon's threats over AI shopping assistants By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Perplexity AI on Tuesday issued a response to Amazon, after the e-commerce giant demanded the AI company stop using AI agents to make purchases on its platform. In a statement titled "Bullying is Not Innovation," Perplexity revealed it had received what it described as "an aggressive legal threat" from Amazon, demanding prohibition of Perplexity's Comet users from using AI assistants on Amazon's website. Perplexity characterized the move as "Amazon's first legal salvo against an AI company" and "a threat to all internet users." The AI company defended its Comet Assistant feature, which allows users to find and purchase items on Amazon when logged in. Perplexity emphasized that user credentials are "stored securely only in your device, never on Perplexity's servers." Perplexity argued that Amazon's opposition stems from prioritizing advertising revenue over user experience, citing recent statements from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to investors about the company's "return on advertising spend" and plans to "partner with 3rd party agents" in the future. The AI firm outlined three principles it believes are essential for user agents: privacy (being "indistinguishable from you"), personal service (working "for you, not for Perplexity, and certainly not for Amazon"), and capability to perform any task that matters to users. Perplexity concluded by stating it "will not be intimidated" and is "fighting for the rights of users," while suggesting Amazon has forgotten "what it's like to be our size and passionate about a world-changing product."

Perplexity receives legal threat from Amazon over agentic AI shopping tool

(Reuters) -Perplexity AI said on Tuesday it has received a legal threat from Amazon.com demanding that the startup block the AI agent on its Comet browser from shopping on the e-commerce giant's platform on a user's behalf. The startup, which has grown rapidly amid the boom in AI assistants, rejected Amazon's claims, saying it was using its market dominance to stifle competition. 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. Amazon said it has repeatedly requested that Perplexity remove the online retailer from the Comet experience, "particularly in light of the significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience it provides". Third-party apps making purchases for users should operate openly and respect businesses' decisions on whether to participate, Amazon said in a statement. The clash between Amazon.com and Perplexity highlights an emerging debate over how to regulate the growing use of AI agents and how they interact with websites. Perplexity is among many AI startups seeking to reinvent the web browser around artificial intelligence, aiming to make it more autonomous and capable of handling everyday online activities, from drafting emails to completing purchases. Amazon itself is developing similar tools, including "Buy For Me", a feature allowing 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 that can make purchases and comparisons on behalf of users. The company said user credentials remain stored locally and never on its servers. "Easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers. But Amazon doesn't care, they're more interested in serving you ads," the company said. The startup argued that users have the right to choose their own AI assistants, portraying Amazon's move as an attempt to safeguard its ad-driven business model. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)