Amazon has issued a cease and desist letter to Perplexity AI, demanding that its artificial intelligence browser agent, Comet, stop making purchases on Amazon's e-commerce platform. The letter, sent on Friday, accuses Perplexity of violating Amazon's terms of service by allowing Comet to buy items without disclosing that it was acting on behalf of users, and by disguising automated logins as a standard Chrome browser.
Perplexity, valued at approximately $20 billion, denied any wrongdoing and labeled Amazon's actions as a "bullying tactic" to suppress competition in the AI-powered browsing and shopping market. In a draft blog post titled "Bullying Is Not Innovation," Perplexity argued that Amazon is attempting to "eliminate user rights" to protect its advertising revenue, which earns billions annually from sponsored product placements.
Amazon spokesperson Lara Hendrickson stated that third-party applications like Comet must "operate openly and respect service provider decisions," emphasizing that the agent degraded the customer experience by bypassing personalization systems and causing inaccuracies in delivery estimates and pricing. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas countered, asserting that AI agents should have the same rights as human users and that it is not Amazon's role to monitor who shops on behalf of others.
The dispute highlights growing tensions over agentic browsers, such as Comet, OpenAI's ChatGPT Atlas, and Opera Neon, which automate tasks like purchases. Amazon is developing its own AI shopping tools, including "Buy For Me," "Rufus," and "Help Me Decide," while Amazon CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged on an earnings call that most AI shopping agents currently deliver "not good" experiences but hinted at potential future collaborations. Notably, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is an investor in Perplexity, and Perplexity relies on Amazon Web Services for infrastructure, adding irony to the conflict.
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