Amazon Sends Legal Threats to Perplexity Over Agentic Browsing

TL;DR: Amazon has issued a cease-and-desist letter demanding Perplexity prevent its AI shopping assistant Comet from operating on Amazon’s platform without proper identification. The dispute highlights critical questions about transparency, access control, and oversight for autonomous AI agents operating on commercial platforms.

Amazon has escalated tensions in the emerging agentic AI sector by sending legal threats to Perplexity over the company’s AI shopping assistant, Comet. The move raises fundamental questions about how websites should handle autonomous agents and what rules should govern their operation.

The Core Dispute: Identification and Transparency

The legal challenge centres on a straightforward requirement: Amazon wants third-party agents to identify themselves when operating on its platform. The company points to existing precedent, noting that “food delivery apps” and “travel agencies” already follow this practice.

Perplexity has pushed back, arguing that because Comet operates under human user direction, it automatically inherits the same permissions as the human user. The company characterised Amazon’s action as overreach, publishing a blog post titled “Bullying is not innovation” and describing the letter as “Amazon’s first legal salvo against an AI company.”

Amazon’s statement suggests the company will make its own determination about whether to permit third-party shopping bots on its platform—implying that even if Perplexity complies by identifying Comet, Amazon might still choose to block competitors to its own shopping bot, Rufus.

Broader Implications for Agentic AI

The Amazon-Perplexity conflict reflects growing pains in the agentic AI sector. As autonomous agents become more capable of browsing websites, making purchases, and interacting with online services, fundamental questions remain unresolved:

  • How should websites distinguish between human users and AI agents?
  • Should platforms be required to allow third-party agents, or can they block competitors?
  • What transparency and oversight mechanisms are appropriate for autonomous agents?

This isn’t Perplexity’s first controversy around agent behaviour. Earlier this year, Cloudflare documented the company circumventing bot-blocking measures to access websites—a practice that raised questions about respect for website access policies.

Looking Forward

The dispute sets a potential precedent for how the agentic AI industry will operate. If Amazon successfully enforces identification requirements, other major platforms may follow suit, potentially creating standardised frameworks for how autonomous agents interact with commercial websites.

For businesses developing or deploying AI agents, the case underscores the importance of transparency and clear communication with platform operators. The alternative—legal battles and potential platform blocks—could significantly limit the utility of agentic AI solutions.

The outcome will likely influence how other major platforms approach autonomous agents, shaping the regulatory landscape for this emerging technology category.

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