November 11, 2025
Amazon Accuses Perplexity’s AI of Shopping on Its Site Without Permission
Amazon’s legal threat against Perplexity AI has become the first major test of what happens when artificial intelligence starts handling the shopping experience for consumers.
The tension erupted after Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter accusing Perplexity’s Comet assistant of unauthorised automated browsing and purchasing on Amazon’s site. In the letter, published by Amazon, the company said Comet “pretends to be a human shopper,” potentially leading to incorrect pricing, order errors and security risks.
TechCrunch reported that Amazon warned Perplexity to immediately remove access to its website, calling the activity a violation of its terms of service and damaging to customer trust.
Perplexity hit back with an open letter titled “Bullying is Not Innovation”, framing the dispute as an attack on user freedom. The company argued that Comet operates entirely on behalf of users, storing data locally rather than on its servers. “Our goal is to give people control over their own shopping experience,” the post said, adding that Amazon’s actions could be interpreted an attempt to block competition and “limit choice” under the guise of protecting customers.
According to Reuters, Amazon insists its actions are about protecting customers and not about competition. The retailer said that when unapproved AI agents enter its ecosystem, they risk “degrading the shopping experience” that customers expect.
However, Amazon isn’t standing still when it comes to automating and refining the customer journey. In fact, the retailer recently launched its own assistant/feature called Help Me Decide, which uses AI to shift from merely recommending products to actively selecting what it believes is the right match for the user.
The Community’s Response
On Linkedin, the debate has shaken the tech community. AI consultant Pete Larkin described the episode as “a war on AI agents.” One comment said that “third-party shopping agents could be much less likely to click on sponsored products than humans”, and that way reduce the revenue Amazon makes from sponsored posts.
Others argued that Amazon’s position is justified, maintaining a consistent and secure journey is essential to trust, even if it limits outside experimentation.
Retailers have spent years perfecting digital journeys, but AI assistants like Comet could soon dismantle and rebuild them based on user goals rather than brand design. We have yet to see whether AI can enhance the customer experience and who gets to define it.
