A new conflict has emerged between Amazon and the AI search startup Perplexity, centered around the latter’s AI-driven shopping assistant, Comet. Amazon has issued a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity, demanding that it stop allowing users to deploy Comet on Amazon’s marketplace, claiming the feature violates its terms of service.
According to Amazon, Comet failed to properly identify itself as an automated agent when browsing or purchasing items, which the company says goes against its platform rules. Perplexity revealed the dispute in a blog post titled “Bullying is not innovation,” accusing Amazon of trying to stifle AI progress. The startup said it had already received multiple warnings before the legal notice arrived.
In its defense, Perplexity argues that Comet acts on behalf of human users, and therefore should inherit the same permissions as those users. In other words, the company believes its AI agent should be able to perform actions just like a person would — without needing to announce that it’s an automated assistant.
Amazon disagrees, pointing out that other industries already require transparency from digital intermediaries. It compared the situation to food delivery apps or travel booking platforms, which identify themselves when placing orders or purchasing tickets for customers. Amazon’s position is that Perplexity could continue using its bot if it simply disclosed its identity while operating on the site.
However, critics believe Amazon’s stance may be less about transparency and more about control. Some argue that Amazon fears losing revenue from advertisements and product placements if AI shoppers bypass promoted listings. A human buyer might get distracted by suggested items or special offers — something an efficient AI agent would likely ignore.
This isn’t the first time Perplexity’s AI tools have raised ethical and technical questions. Earlier this year, Cloudflare accused the company of scraping data from websites that had explicitly blocked AI crawlers. Perplexity countered that its system was only retrieving publicly available information in response to user queries — essentially acting like a regular web browser.
The ongoing clash highlights a broader challenge facing the future of AI-driven web automation. As more consumers rely on bots for tasks like shopping, booking flights, or researching products, companies like Amazon will need to decide whether to cooperate with these digital agents — or shut them out entirely.
