- Amazon is suing Perplexity for pretending to be human
- Perplexity says Amazon is bullying its competitors
- It's a fast-developing battle over the use of AI "agents"
Amazon filed a lawsuit Tuesday against AI startup Perplexity, accusing it of illegally accessing Amazon customer accounts and disguising automated browsing as human activity through its “agentic” shopping feature.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, marks one of the first major legal battles over how autonomous AI agents should interact with commercial websites. It underscores growing tension between major tech platforms and startups building tools that can independently navigate and act online.
Amazon alleges “covert access” and security risks
In the complaint, Amazon said Perplexity’s Comet browser and its integrated Comet AI agent used automation to log in to Amazon’s site, browse listings, and place orders without authorization. The tech giant accused the startup of covertly accessing private accounts, posing “security risks to customer data,” and ignoring repeated requests to stop.
“Rather than be transparent, Perplexity has purposely configured its CometAI software to not identify the Comet AI agent’s activities in the Amazon Store,” Amazon said in the filing. “Perplexity’s misconduct must end. That Perplexity’s trespass involves code rather than a lockpick makes it no less unlawful.”
Amazon added that the automated tool degraded customers’ shopping experiences and interfered with its ability to deliver personalized recommendations built up “over decades.”
Perplexity accuses Amazon of bullying competitors
Perplexity, which has grown rapidly amid the boom in AI-driven assistants, has previously rejected Amazon’s claims, saying the company was using its market power to stifle innovation.
The startup said it had already received a legal threat from Amazon demanding that it block Comet’s AI agent from operating on its site. “Bullying is when large corporations use legal threats and intimidation to block innovation and make life worse for people,” Perplexity wrote in a blog post.
The company said its software keeps user credentials stored locally rather than on its servers, and that users have the right to choose whichever AI assistant they trust to handle online tasks. “Easier shopping means more transactions and happier customers,” the company said, according to a Reuters report. “But Amazon doesn’t care—they’re more interested in serving you ads.”
The battle over AI “agents” heats up
The case highlights a brewing debate over how autonomous digital agents—AI tools capable of independently performing online actions such as searching, comparing, and purchasing—should be regulated.
Amazon itself is developing similar features, including “Buy For Me,” which lets users shop across brands within its app, and “Rufus,” an AI assistant designed to recommend items and manage shopping carts.
Perplexity’s Comet browser represents a new generation of AI-enhanced interfaces designed to handle everything from writing emails to completing purchases. But as companies like Amazon tighten control over their ecosystems, questions about transparency, data access, and fair competition are moving from the engineering lab to the courtroom.
What’s next
Amazon is asking the court to bar Perplexity from using automated agents to access its site and to require the company to disclose how its system interacts with user accounts.
The outcome could set a precedent for how AI agents are allowed to interact with major online platforms—a decision that may shape the future of automated web browsing and digital commerce.