Perplexity AI accuses Amazon of bullying with legal threat over Comet browser

Perplexity AI accused Amazon of "bullying" on Tuesday after it received a letter from the e-commerce giant demanding it prevent people from using its artificial intelligence browser Comet to make purchases on their behalf.

In a blog post, Perplexity said users can ask its Comet Assistant to find items and make purchases on Amazon, and that they "love this experience." But Perplexity said it received "an aggressive legal threat" from Amazon "demanding" that it put a stop to that practice.

Attorneys for Amazon sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist letter, dated Oct. 31, accusing the company of committing computer fraud by failing to disclose when its AI agents take actions for users on the e-commerce platform.

"As should already be clear given Amazon's prior efforts and communications with Perplexity, Perplexity does not have authorization to access Amazon's store, Amazon user accounts, or account details, using its disguised or obscured Comet AI agents," according to a copy of the letter viewed by CNBC.

Amazon has already taken steps in recent months to prevent external AI agents from crawling its website, including those developed by OpenAI, Google and Meta.

"Amazon should love this. Easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers. But Amazon doesn't care," Perplexity wrote. "They're more interested in serving you ads, sponsored results, and influencing your purchasing decisions with upsells and confusing offers."

Amazon said in a blog post that third-party shopping agents should operate openly and "respect service provider decisions" on whether or not to participate.

The company said Perplexity wasn't operating transparently and is evading the company to gain unauthorized access to its store.

It also argued that Perplexity's agents degrade the Amazon shopping experience by showing products that don't broaden discovery, lack personalized recommendations and may not be the fastest delivery speed available to shoppers.

Amazon pointed to food delivery, delivery service and online travel agencies as examples of applications that operate with consent from providers.

"Agentic third-party applications such as Perplexity's Comet have the same obligations, and we've repeatedly requested that Perplexity remove Amazon from the Comet experience, particularly in light of the significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience it provides," the company wrote.

At the same time that Amazon is seeking to keep AI tools off its site, the company has launched its own offerings.

Last February, it rolled out a shopping chatbot called Rufus that can answer questions and suggest products. Amazon also began testing an agent in April called "Buy For Me" that lets shoppers purchase some products from other websites without leaving its app.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told investors on the company's earnings call last week that it is "having conversations" and may ultimately partner with third-party AI agents.

"We have to find a way, though, that makes the customer experience good," he added.

Perplexity is best known for its AI-powered search engine that gives users simple answers to questions and links out to the original source material on the web. The company initially launched Comet in July, and it rolled out for free worldwide in October.

Comet is supposed to serve as a personal assistant that can search the web, organize tabs, shop, draft emails and more, Perplexity said.

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