Amazon Delivers Legal Notice to Perplexity Over Agentic Browsing Violations
In a significant escalation, Amazon has formally requested Perplexity to remove its agentic browsing tool, Comet, from its online marketplace. Both companies confirmed this development publicly on Tuesday, following several warnings from Amazon regarding perceived violations of its terms of service. In response, Perplexity published a blog post titled “Bullying is not innovation,” describing Amazon’s actions as aggressive and unprecedented in its dealings with AI firms.
Perplexity argues that since Comet acts based on user instructions, it should inherently possess the same permissions as human users, thereby negating the need for explicit identification. However, Amazon counters this perspective by highlighting that many third-party services, such as food delivery and travel booking apps, routinely identify themselves. “We believe it is straightforward that third-party applications assisting customers with purchases should operate transparently and respect the service provider’s policies,” Amazon’s statement emphasizes.
There is concern that Amazon’s strict approach may be aimed at preserving its advertising revenue and product placements, as automated shopping bots like Comet are less likely to be swayed into purchasing higher-priced items, unlike human consumers.
This dispute comes in the wake of a previous incident where Cloudflare labeled Perplexity’s practices as scraping websites while ignoring explicit requests to block AI bots. Supporters of Perplexity defended it, arguing that its browsing methodology closely resembles standard human interactions with websites.
As Amazon positions itself firmly in favor of requiring agent identification, it raises critical questions regarding the future of AI-driven shopping and the operational transparency expected from third-party applications in the ecommerce landscape.
