Post by : Bianca
Haleem
Amazon.com Inc. has filed a lawsuit in a San Francisco federal court against Perplexity AI Inc., asserting that the startup’s AI shopping agent, Comet, completed purchases on Amazon without adequate disclosure and in breach of the retailer’s terms of service. The complaint includes allegations of computer fraud.
The legal action follows a cease-and-desist letter Amazon sent last week, which the company says was prompted after Perplexity allegedly circumvented protections and continued to allow Comet to act as a purchasing agent on its site. Amazon says this behaviour harms the shopping experience and poses privacy risks to customers.
Perplexity — valued at about $20 billion — rebutted Amazon’s claims, labelling the suit as aggressive and defending consumers’ choice to use AI assistants for transactions. The startup maintains that Comet operates only on explicit user instructions and does not harvest or train on Amazon’s data.
This dispute is part of a wider conversation over so-called agentic AI: systems that can carry out online tasks such as buying goods, drafting messages or performing research, rather than only generating text. Major tech firms, including OpenAI, Google and Amazon, are exploring similar agents, but legal boundaries remain unclear.
Amazon notes it offers its own AI shopping capabilities, citing features like “Buy For Me” and “Rufus,” and says third-party tools must comply with platform rules. Industry analysts warn the outcome could establish important legal precedent for how autonomous agents interact with platforms owned by others.
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas argues that AI agents acting on behalf of users should be treated like human customers, framing the fight as one over user choice. Amazon, meanwhile, emphasises the need to preserve a reliable and secure shopping environment and to protect the integrity of its advertising ecosystem.
The case is drawing attention from technology companies, regulators and startups, as its resolution could shape the future regulation and deployment of AI-driven online services.
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