Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity last week for using its Comet browser to access the e-commerce site.
Perplexity alleged that Amazon’s legal notice shows its interest in serving users ads
Photo Credit: Perplexity
Amazon and Perplexity might soon get tangled in a legal warfare over the former's artificial intelligence (AI) browser. Last week, the Seattle-based tech giant sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity, demanding that it stop “evading Amazon's technological measures” to identify and block the Comet browser from displaying products and facilitating purchases on behalf of users. It also highlighted that storing Amazon account data on Comet puts users at a security risk. In response, the answer engine-maker accused the tech giant of bullying and using “legal threats and intimidation to block innovation.”
In its cease-and-desist letter, the e-commerce giant detailed the issues it has with the Comet browser. The company alleges that the AI firm allows its agentic browser to “covertly intrude into Amazon's e-commerce websites by disguising Comet as Google Chrome. As a result, the website is not able to correctly identify when the AI browser's agents are accessing the platform on behalf of the user, the tech giant claimed.
Amazon added that the transparency is necessary because it protects the service provider's right to monitor AI agents and restrict “conduct that degrades the customer shopping experience, erodes customer trust, and creates security risks.”
To justify its claims of degrading customer experience and eroding trust, the company stated that its e-commerce platform is designed to help users discover relevant products, show details such as reviews, price and delivery speed, and all of this is based on the user's browsing and shopping history. When Comet shops on behalf of users, the agent might not select the best options available, leading to customer dissatisfaction with the platform.
Additionally, the company also claims that Comet is vulnerable to prompt injections and other attacks. Since it handles users' login credentials and financial data while hiding its identity, it interferes with Amazon's security measures, creating a risk for the users.
Despite being public now, the tussle between Amazon and Perplexity is not new. In the legal letter, the tech giant alleges that Perplexity has been involved in unauthorised access to the Amazon Store “knowingly” since at least November 2024. Earlier, it was claimed to be done via the company's “Buy with Pro” feature, where it could place orders on behalf of users via the main platform. At the time, Perplexity agreed to halt its agents from accessing the websites, the company claimed.
However, the company alleges that the AI browser, Comet, began accessing the website again in early August, disguised as Chrome. Amazon claimed it contacted the AI firm, but it refused to agree this time. After the company implemented a security measure to block the agent, Perplexity is said to have released a new version 24 hours later to circumvent the restriction. Amazon has since then, it has reached out to the Comet-maker multiple times, but it refused to engage.
In a blog post earlier this week, Perplexity called the legal letter sent by Amazon “bullying.” It also called “Amazon's first legal salvo against an AI company” a threat to all Internet users. The AI firm also refused to accept the demands as a reasonable legal position, highlighting that Amazon is refusing users' right to hire a “labourer” to do their shopping.
The company also alleged that Amazon is trying to prevent users from having a choice and accessing innovation that would make their lives easier, and potentially increase Amazon's transactions and revenue. Sharing a link to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's Q3 earnings call, Perplexity claimed that the tech giant is “more interested in serving you ads, sponsored results, and influencing your purchasing decisions with upsells and confusing offers.”
Amazon claims that Perplexity's “illegal intrusion” into its e-commerce websites has caused it considerable harm, including disrupting Amazon's customer relationships and forcing it to devote resources to track, investigate, and address Perplexity's misconduct.
The letter mentions that if Perplexity does not change its behaviour, the tech giant will seek “injunctive relief to prevent ongoing irreparable harm” to Amazon and its users, in addition to equitable remedies for damages. The company demanded that the AI firm immediately stop evading its measures and transparently identify as Comet AI when operating on the Amazon Store.
Additionally, it also demands that Perplexity preserves and does not destroy documents related to Amazon or Comet AI.
In the blog post, Perplexity stated that it will not be intimidated by Amazon's legal threats. It stated that it is fighting for the rights of users by not adhering to the e-commerce giant's terms of conditions, and that it refuses to be a target for corporate bullies. “Agentic shopping is the natural evolution of this promise, and people already demand it. Perplexity demands the right to offer it, the company added.
This new development might be the first time a global corporation has taken a public stance against third-party AI agents, but when it comes to AI systems illegitimately accessing content to harm the user experience and effectively negatively impacting revenues, the list is pretty long. From news websites to content publishers, many have faced the wrath of the new technology, with several such cases still pending in US courts.
Lawmakers now have a significant task on their hands, as they must decide how to balance the autonomy of Internet domains with the AI bots that violate them. The choice is between protecting existing technologies and letting new technologies thrive, and it is not an easy one.
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