A fierce dispute between Amazon, the e-commerce giant, and Perplexity, an AI startup, has flared up over who should own the rights to automate online shopping-a critical question for the future of AI-powered commerce.
Amazon is demanding that Perplexity immediately disable its AI browser, Comet, from making purchases on Amazon’s platform. The tech giant says Perplexity is in violation of its terms of service and has created a “significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience” for its users.
Amazon Accuses Perplexity of ‘Computer Fraud’ Over AI Shopping Agent
According to Bloomberg’s report, Amazon has accused Perplexity of committing computer fraud by not disclosing when AI agents are shopping on behalf of users.
The company said it first raised the issue of Perplexity’s AI shopping capabilities a year ago, and that the firm initially agreed to stop the practice. But everything changed with the recent rollout of Comet, Perplexity’s agentic web browser.
Real-world testing by PCMag shows just how seamlessly Comet works. The browser was asked to purchase a product on Amazon. It completed the entire transaction on its own, no login required, no credit card entry needed.
“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,” reported PCMag’s Ruben Circelli. “It’s definitely easy, and it seems to work, at least on Amazon.”
Amazon’s position is unequivocal: third-party apps that purchase on behalf of customers should do so in a transparent manner and with respect for whether service providers wish to participate in such schemes. It has signaled that Comet’s functionality crosses a line.
There’s likely more at stake here than a terms of service violation. Amazon has invested heavily in its own AI shopping tools, including the “Help Me Decide” assistant launched last month. Perplexity’s solution bypasses Amazon’s website altogether, potentially reducing ad revenue, limiting opportunities for upsells, and decreasing the chances customers will browse additional products.
Perplexity Defends AI Shopping Agents Against Amazon’s Legal Threats
Perplexity hasn’t taken Amazon’s legal threats lying down. The startup published a forceful response, accusing Amazon of bullying tactics and using litigation to crush innovation.
“Amazon should love this,” Perplexity argued, “easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers. But Amazon doesn’t care; they’d rather serve you ads, sponsored results, and influence your purchasing decisions with upsells and confusing offers.”
The company framed the dispute as a David versus Goliath battle, suggesting Amazon has forgotten “what it’s like to be our size and passionate about a world-changing product.” Perplexity argues that customers should be able to use AI assistants to shop on their behalf, framing Amazon’s stance as being against people “hiring labor” in the form of AI agents.
While Perplexity uses an innovation and consumer choice rhetoric, its response consciously avoids legitimate concerns about agentic AI browsers, still very much in their infancy and with well-documented problems.
Amazon, Walmart, and the Uncertain Future of Agentic Commerce
Even OpenAI has acknowledged that the ChatGPT Atlas browser is flawed and can buy the wrong products. Shortly after Atlas launched, OpenAI’s Chief Information Security Officer, Dane Stucke,y warned that the AI “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.”
The most worrisome risk is prompt injection attacks, where hackers embed malicious instructions in websites or emails to manipulate AI agents. While a customer might ask his or her AI to buy toilet paper, for instance, an injected prompt could fool the system into buying something entirely different.
But not every retailer has taken as cold a view of AI-powered shopping as Amazon’s. Last month, Walmart did the opposite, teaming up with OpenAI to let ChatGPT users shop its catalog directly.
Thanks to Instant Checkout technology, customers of Walmart can seamlessly complete purchases without ever having to leave the ChatGPT interface. Walmart termed this “agentic commerce in action.”
As the development of agentic AI browsers becomes more advanced, this tug of war between Amazon and Perplexity could start setting important precedents: Can retailers block AI agents from their platforms? Should consumers be able to use whatever tools they want to shop online? How can innovation be balanced with security concerns?
For now, the legal threats continue to fly, and the future of AI-powered shopping remains uncertain.
