Amazon Clamps Down on Perplexity AI’s Automated Shopping Agent
Amazon has escalated its stance against automated commerce tools by issuing a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity AI. The e-commerce giant alleges the $20 billion-valued startup violated terms of service through its Comet browser agent, which made purchases without proper disclosure of its automated nature.
The conflict centers on Amazon's anti-bot policies, which explicitly prohibit automated data scraping and purchasing. Perplexity's defense frames the action as anti-competitive maneuvering in the burgeoning AI shopping assistant market, where both companies aim to establish dominance.