Amazon threatens legal action against Perplexity for AI shopping assistant

A Clash Over Innovation and User Choice

This week, Perplexity received an aggressive legal threat from Amazon, demanding that Perplexity prohibit its Comet Assistant users from leveraging AI assistants for shopping on Amazon’s platform. This move marks Amazon’s first legal salvo against an AI company, raising major concerns for the future of user rights and internet innovation.

For decades, software has been a tool in the hands of users—much like a wrench. The rise of agentic AI transforms software into labor: an autonomous assistant, agent, or even a digital employee acting on behalf of the user.

A Threat to Genuine User Empowerment

Amazon wants to block users from employing their own AI assistants to shop on Amazon’s platform. For example:

• Users instruct their Comet Assistant to find and purchase items on Amazon.
• If the user is logged in, the assistant completes the purchase quickly and securely—Comet stores Amazon credentials only on the user’s device, never on Perplexity’s servers.
• Comet can also compare options and select the best product according to user preferences, delivering a seamless shopping experience.

This streamlined approach should mean more transactions and happier customers. Yet, Amazon’s priorities appear different. As CEO Andy Jassy recently told investors, “It just all leads to a return on advertising spend that's very unusual,” and he admitted, “We’re also having conversations with and expect over time to partner with 3rd party agents.”

Amazon’s aim is clear: maintaining control over ads, sponsored results, and steering user decisions towards upsells and confusing offers. The legal threat seeks to eliminate genuine user rights so Amazon can focus on advertising revenue and future partnerships with AI agents designed to serve corporate interests—not users.

Drawing the Line: Merchandising vs. Exploitation

Every retailer should celebrate the craft of merchandising, creating truly delightful customer experiences. But it’s dangerous to accept this as cover for consumer exploitation. Users want trustworthy AI, not manipulation. They deserve AI assistants that operate solely in their best interest—never as a tool for corporate profit.

Perplexity’s Response: Standing Firm on User Rights

The emergence of agentic AI represents a pivotal choice: Will technology empower users or become another lever for corporate control?

• Perplexity is committed to fighting for user rights and freedom.
• All its products—like Comet Assistant—are designed to put the user first.
• User choice and autonomy are foundational to Perplexity’s mission and technology development.

Perhaps it’s this commitment to empowerment that has made Perplexity a target. But, as history shows, Amazon itself once fought to give people better choices. Its success was built on delivering great products at low prices—agentic shopping is simply the next logical step in that consumer-focused journey.

The demand for advanced, user-focused AI shopping assistants is already strong. Perplexity stands by its right to offer innovative tools that empower shoppers and will resist intimidation from corporate giants.