What just happened? Several artificial intelligence companies have been pushing their AI agents as tools that can make online purchases on a user's behalf. Amazon isn't happy about Perplexity's bot carrying out these actions on its platform, and has now sent a cease-and-desist letter to stop the company.
Perplexity's Comet AI browser, which launched earlier this year, combines real-time search, privacy tools, and an intelligent assistant capable of automating user tasks, including online shopping.
Amazon says that Comet violates its terms of service, degrades its shopping experience, and introduces privacy vulnerabilities, according to Bloomberg. Amazon also accuses Perplexity of committing computer fraud by failing to disclose when the AI is shopping on behalf of a user.
Amazon.com's Conditions of Use prohibit the use of account information for the benefit of any third party, as well as the use of data gathering and extraction tools. Comet stores login credentials for websites locally to make purchases for customers, so it could be violating the terms.
Amazon also notes that other third-party agents working on behalf of humans do identify themselves, 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.
Perplexity replied to Amazon's legal threat in a statement titled, "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 wrote.
Perplexity essentially claims that its bot doesn't have to identify itself as an agent to Amazon. The company says Amazon wants to block the bot because the company prefers humans – who are more likely to be swayed by ads and product placements – to do their own shopping. There's also the fact that Amazon has its own AI-powered shopping features and bot.
Perplexity is no stranger to controversy. It was accused of stealing content and lying in 2024, and Cloudflare recently accused it of scraping websites that explicitly blocked such actions. Perplexity was also one of the three companies Reddit sued for scraping user content without a license.
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Most people are understandably wary of letting AI agents make purchases at their behest, and for good reason. OpenAI Chief Information Security Officer Dane Stuckey warned that the ChatGPT Atlas browser can make mistakes, such as trying to buy the wrong product or failing to check in with users before taking an important action.
Amazon warns Perplexity with cease-and-desist over AI shopping agent
