Perplexity AI Inc. has pushed back against attempts by Amazon.com Inc. to block AI shopping via its Comet AI browser, in what it says is the US retail giant’s first legal salvo against an AI company.
The AI company, founded and led by the India-born Aravind Srinivas, has received an “aggresive” legal threat from Amazon, demanding Perplexity AI to prohibit its Comet users from using their AI assistants on its online shopping platform, according to a blogpost titled ‘Bullying in Not Innovation’ shared by the CEO on X, formerly Twitter.
- Comet is an AI-powered browser developed by Perplexity AI that integrates artificial intelligence directly into the browsing experience.
“We would be happy to work together with Amazon to figure out a win-win outcome for both us and them,” Srinivasan wrote on X. “But attempts to block our Comet Assistant on Amazon and hurt our users—we will have to stand up for them and not get bullied by Amazon.”
Amazon vs Perplexity and AI shopping
Perplexity allows a Comet user to deploy Agentic AI on Amazon.com to find the right product, compare it with similar offering and purchase it for them. In short, AI shopping instead of window shopping.
Amazon, however, isn’t impressed.
According to the Perplexity blog, Amazon is “more interested in serving ads, sponsored results, and influencing your purchasing decisions”, rather than facilitating a seamless shopping experience.
During an earnings call last week, an analyst asked Amazon about its stance on “agentic commerce”—that is, shopping via AI agents—to which CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon has its own efforts like Rufus and ‘Buy for Me’. “We are also having conversations with and expect over time to partner with third-party agents.” On advertising revenue which is growing, Jassy said that when “you layer advertising on top of audience curation…it just all leads to a return on advertising spend that’s very unusual”.
That, according to Perplexity AI, is Amazon’s attempt “to eliminate user rights so that it can sell more ads right now and partner with AI agents designed to take advantage of users later”.
“It’s not just bullying, it’s bonkers,” the blogpost read.
What is Agentic AI and how it works
Agentic AI is the next leap in Gen AI and a step towards AGI. It can take initiative and act on its own to achieve goals, with minimal human input.
For example, Agentic AI can search a product for you by embedding into, say, Amazon, compare its prices with similar offerings, place the order and then facilitate payment as well.
That’s a departure from traditional e-commerce, where an etailer may show you “promoted” products first, instead of the one that suits you the most—price-wise or otherwise. Amazon has been in the past accused of promoting its own products under Amazon Basics or those offered by its advertisers.
“Perplexity is fighting for the rights of users,” the company said in its blog post. “People love our products because they’re designed for people. User choice and freedom are at the heart of everything we build.”
“Amazon forgets how it got so big. Users love it. They want good products, at a low price, delivered fast. Agentic AI shopping is the natural evolution of this promise, and people already demand it. Perplexity demands the right to offer it.”