Amazon vs Perplexity: AI Shopping Showdown Heats Up as Amazon Orders ‘Comet’ to Stop Buying for Users

Amazon has issued a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity AI, demanding that the artificial intelligence startup stop allowing its AI browser agent, Comet, to make purchases online for users.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Amazon accused Perplexity of computer fraud for not disclosing when its AI agent was shopping on behalf of users. The company said this violated Amazon’s terms of service and degraded the overall shopping experience while creating potential privacy risks.

In a blog post, Perplexity responded by saying that Amazon was “bullying a smaller competitor” with a rival AI shopping tool and argued that users should have the right to choose their preferred shopping assistant. “It’s a bully tactic to scare disruptive companies like Perplexity out of making life better for people,” the startup wrote.

A Clash Over AI Shopping Agents

This conflict highlights a growing debate over how companies should regulate AI agents that perform complex online tasks — such as shopping, writing, and browsing — on behalf of users. Like OpenAI and Google, Perplexity is reimagining the traditional web browser through AI to help automate tasks like drafting emails, conducting research, and making purchases.

Amazon, too, is developing its own AI assistants. In April, it began testing a feature called “Buy For Me,” which allows users to shop from brand websites directly inside the Amazon app. Another assistant, Rufus, helps users browse products and add them to their cart.

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said, “We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from Amazon. But it’s not customer-centric to force people to use only their assistant, which may not even be the best shopping assistant.”

Amazon’s Concerns and Perplexity’s Response

Amazon’s site policy prohibits “any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering tools.”
In November 2024, Amazon had asked Perplexity to halt the use of any agents that could purchase products on the platform until both companies reached an agreement. Perplexity initially complied but resumed activity with its new Comet browser agent in August 2025.

Amazon claimed that Comet agents disguised themselves as Google Chrome users, and when blocked, Perplexity released new versions to bypass the restrictions.

An Amazon spokesperson said, “Third-party applications that make purchases on behalf of customers must operate openly and respect service provider decisions.”

Srinivas countered that AI agents should be treated as user extensions — with the same rights and responsibilities as human shoppers. “It’s not Amazon’s job to decide who can represent a user,” he added.

Growing Industry Tensions

Perplexity has already faced criticism for using publisher content in its AI summaries without permission and for allegedly using scraped Reddit data. The company maintains that it “will always defend users’ rights to freely and fairly access public knowledge.”

Srinivas also clarified that Comet is not scraping or training data from Amazon, only carrying out actions needed to complete purchases requested by users.

He accused Amazon of trying to “eliminate user rights” to maintain its ad revenue dominance. AI agents like Comet could one day threaten Amazon’s advertising business, which relies heavily on search-based ad placements — something bots may skip entirely.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently commented that current AI shopping agents lack personalization and accuracy but added that he was open to future partnerships.

Interestingly, Perplexity is still a customer of Amazon Web Services (AWS), with “hundreds of millions” in commitments. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also an investor in Perplexity.