Amazon files federal suit against Perplexity over Comet shopping bot

Amazon sued Perplexity AI in federal court this week, accusing the startup of using its Comet browser agent to place orders on the retailer’s site without proper authorization and of concealing that an automated system, rather than a human user, was completing transactions. The complaint, filed in San Francisco, seeks an order blocking Perplexity from enabling Comet to shop on Amazon and alleges violations of the company’s terms of service and federal computer misuse laws.

In its filing, Amazon says Comet masked itself as a standard Chrome browser and continued to transact after being blocked, creating security and privacy risks for customers and degrading the tailored shopping experience Amazon provides. The company argues that third party applications that make purchases on behalf of users should operate transparently and respect a merchant’s decision about whether to participate. An Amazon spokesperson said, in a written statement, "Third-party assistants must operate openly and respect platform boundaries."

Perplexity has rebutted the allegations, calling Amazon’s legal action a tactic to limit competition and curb user choice. In a blog post, the San Francisco startup...