Amazon orders Perplexity to pull its AI shopping agent from online store

Amazon has instructed Perplexity to remove its agentic browser, Comet, from its online marketplace after repeatedly warning the AI startup that it was violating Amazon’s terms of service. Both companies confirmed the move on Tuesday, marking the latest clash between big tech and emerging AI-powered commerce tools.

Perplexity detailed the situation in a blog post titled “Bullying is not innovation”, accusing Amazon of using its market dominance to stifle innovation. “This week, Perplexity received an aggressive legal threat from Amazon, demanding we prohibit Comet users from using their AI assistants on Amazon. This is Amazon’s first legal salvo against an AI company, and it is a threat to all internet users,” the company wrote.

Amazon argues that Perplexity’s AI assistant failed to identify itself as an automated agent when interacting with its platform. The e-commerce giant noted that other third-party services acting on behalf of users do identify themselves. “It is how others operate, including food delivery apps and the restaurants they take orders for, delivery service apps and the stores they shop from, and online travel agencies and the airlines they book tickets with for customers,” Amazon said in a statement.

According to Amazon, the fix is simple: Perplexity must disclose its identity when operating on behalf of a user. However, the company also hinted that it reserves the right to block such agents entirely. “We think it’s fairly straightforward that third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers from other businesses should operate openly and respect service provider decisions whether or not to participate,” Amazon added.

Perplexity claims Amazon’s move is financially motivated. The startup argues that autonomous shopping bots like Comet could threaten Amazon’s ad and product placement revenue because they bypass promotional content. A bot searching for a laundry basket, for example, would not be tempted by related product recommendations or upselling strategies.

This is not the first time Perplexity has faced criticism over its approach to online data. Earlier this year, Cloudflare accused the company of scraping websites that had opted out of AI crawlers. Perplexity’s supporters defended the company, saying its browser only accessed public pages in direct response to user queries, behaviour similar to a human-operated browser. However, others noted that the company had obscured its identity while doing so.