Earlier this week, I wrote about the dangers of AI-powered browsers like Perplexity’s Comet spying on users. Well, it turns out Amazon wasted no time after those reports discussed in my article on Saturday came out. The e-commerce giant just filed a federal lawsuit against Perplexity demanding the startup stop its AI shopping agent from operating on Amazon’s platform. This isn’t just another tech company squabble. This is a fight over the future of online shopping, and the outcome will affect every single one of us who buys things online.
Let’s back up for a second. Perplexity launched Comet, an AI-powered browser that doesn’t just help you search the web — it actually does things for you. Want to buy something on Amazon? Comet’s AI assistant can log into your account, search for products, compare prices, and complete the purchase without you lifting a finger. Sounds convenient, right? Amazon doesn’t think so. Amazon filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court accusing Perplexity of committing computer fraud under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, claiming that Comet’s AI agent disguises itself as a regular Google Chrome browser user to sneak past Amazon’s security systems. Amazon explicitly told Perplexity to stop this behavior multiple times starting in November 2024, only to have Perplexity resume operations in August 2025 by intentionally masking its bot as Chrome to circumvent Amazon’s defenses.
The legal terminology matters here. Amazon isn’t calling Comet an assistant or a helper.” They’re calling it a robot and an intruder, language designed to make Perplexity’s technology sound malicious. Amazon’s argument boils down to this, third-party applications that make purchases on behalf of customers must identify themselves openly, and the platform gets to decide whether to allow them. They point to other industries like food delivery apps and travel booking services, which all properly identify themselves as automated agents rather than pretending to be human users.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Perplexity fired back immediately calling Amazon’s lawsuit a bully tactic designed to suppress competition and protect Amazon’s massive advertising revenue. And honestly, they might have a point. Perplexity argues that Amazon isn’t really concerned about user experience or security. Instead, Amazon is terrified that AI shopping agents will destroy its lucrative ad business where brands pay billions of dollars annually to appear at the top of search results, regardless of whether they’re actually the best products for your needs.
Think about how this threatens Amazon’s model. AI agents like Comet don’t care about sponsored listings or clever product placement. If you tell Comet, buy the cheapest 10-foot HDMI 2.1 cable, it will programmatically scan Amazon, identify the optimal product based purely on your criteria, and purchase it while completely bypassing every single sponsored ad along the way. No amount of advertising dollars can influence an AI agent that’s been instructed to find the objectively best product. For Amazon, this represents an existential threat to a business model worth billions.
Perplexity accuses Amazon of wanting 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. That last part is particularly spicy, because Amazon is actually developing its own competing AI shopping agent called Buy for Me, currently in beta testing with the ability to complete transactions using encrypted customer data, including name, address, and payment details. So Amazon wants to ban other companies’ AI agents while simultaneously building their own.
This brings us to the core philosophical question at the heart of this lawsuit: Who owns your online shopping experience? Perplexity argues that users have fundamental rights to use AI assistants that work on their behalf, and no one else’s. They claim that an AI agent acting with your credentials and explicit permission should be legally indistinguishable from you clicking a mouse yourself. In their view, blocking user agents means corporations get to decide how you interact with the internet, all so they can serve you more ads and manipulate your purchasing decisions.
Amazon’s counterargument, focuses on platform integrity and user protection. They claim that Comet provides a significantly degraded shopping and customer service experience with wrong prices, incorrect delivery estimates, and no personalization or shopping history. Amazon also raises legitimate concerns about account security, return policies, and who’s responsible when something goes wrong with an AI-assisted purchase. CEO Andy Jassy emphasized on a recent earnings call that while the company expects to partner with third-party AI agents eventually, the current customer experience from these tools is not good.
But let’s be real here. we just warned you about AI browsers potentially spying on your data. Naturally we should be skeptical of both sides in this fight. Perplexity has a documented history of ethically questionable behavior, including allegations about their training practices. So their sudden crusade for user rights feels convenient. At the same time, Amazon’s argument that they’re protecting customers rings hollow when you consider their true motivation is actually preserving their ad revenue goldmine. If Amazon genuinely cared about user experience, they’d make their own shopping interface less cluttered with sponsored content and manipulative upsells.
This lawsuit will set crucial precedents for what legal experts are calling agentic commerce — a future where AI agents handle shopping on behalf of consumers. If Amazon wins, we could see a permission-based web where companies can legally block third-party agents and maintain total control over customer interactions. If Perplexity wins, AI agents would gain the same legal status as web browsers, dramatically accelerating changes across all of e-commerce. The stakes are enormous, with every major tech company — Google, OpenAI, Shopify, PayPal, Mastercard — developing AI shopping agents right now.
Here’s the thing, folks: Use AI with extreme caution. Whether it’s Perplexity’s Comet or Amazon’s Buy for Me, these AI shopping agents are still experimental technology with unresolved security vulnerabilities and legal questions. Don’t hand over your Amazon credentials to any AI agent until this legal battle shakes out and we have clearer answers about who’s actually responsible when these systems inevitably make mistakes.
With that… The future of shopping might belong to AI agents, but that future isn’t here yet. And based on this lawsuit, it’s going to be one hell of a fight to get there.
If you cant work with them, then maybe you shouldn’t use them to shop for you!