Perplexity AI accuses Amazon of bullying with Comet legal threat

Confusion AI was blamed Amazon She was accused of “bullying” on Tuesday after receiving a letter from the e-commerce giant demanding it stop people from shopping on their behalf using its AI browser Comet.

One blog postPerplexity said users can ask the Comet Assistant to find and shop for items on Amazon, and they “love the experience.” But Perplexity said it had received an “aggressive legal threat” from Amazon demanding it end this practice.

Amazon lawyers sent Perplexity a cease and desist letter dated Oct. 31, accusing the company of committing computer fraud by failing to disclose when its AI agents took action on behalf of users on the e-commerce platform.

“As should already be clear given Amazon’s previous efforts and communications with Perplexity, Perplexity is not authorized to access Amazon’s store, Amazon user accounts, or account details using disguised or obfuscated Comet AI agents,” according to a copy of the letter viewed by CNBC.

available on amazon steps already taken In recent months, to prevent external AI agents, including those developed by OpenAI, from crawling the website, Google And Meta.

“Amazon should love this. It means easier shopping, more transactions, and happier customers. But Amazon doesn’t care,” Perplexity wrote. “They are more interested in serving you ads, sponsored results, and influencing your purchasing decisions with upsells and confusing offers.”

Amazon said a blog post that third-party shopping agencies must operate openly and “respect the service provider’s decisions” on whether to participate.

The company said Perplexity did not operate in a transparent manner and evaded the company to gain unauthorized access to its store.

It also argued that Perplexity representatives negatively impact the Amazon shopping experience by showing products that do not expand discovery, lack personalized recommendations, and may not be the fastest delivery speed offered to shoppers.

Amazon cited food delivery, delivery service and online travel agencies as examples of apps that work with providers’ permission.

“We have repeatedly requested that Perplexity remove Amazon from its Comet experience, particularly given that the shopping and customer service experience it provides has significantly deteriorated,” the company wrote.

While Amazon tries to keep AI tools off its site, the company has also launched its own offerings.

Last February, a shopping chatbot called Rufus launched that can answer questions and recommend products. Amazon also in April began testing an intermediary called “Buy for Me” that lets shoppers buy some products from other websites without leaving its app.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said last week that the company was “making pitches” to investors on its earnings call and that it might eventually partner with third-party artificial intelligence agents.

“But we have to find a way to make the customer experience better,” he added.

Perplexity is known for its AI-powered search engine that provides users with simple answers to questions and links to original source material from around the web. The company first released Comet in July and became available for free worldwide in October.

Perplexity said Comet should serve as a personal assistant that can search the web, organize tabs, shop, draft emails and more.

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