Amazon Sends Legal Threats To Perplexity Over Agentic Browsing

Amazon has told Perplexity to get its agentic browser retired of its online store, nan companies some confirmed publically connected Tuesday. After informing Perplexity aggregate times that Comet, its AI-powered shopping assistant, was violating Amazon’s terms of service by not identifying itself arsenic an agent, nan ecommerce elephantine sent nan AI hunt motor startup a sternly worded cease-and-desist letter, Perplexity wrote successful a blog station entitled “Bullying is not innovation.”

“This week, Perplexity received an fierce ineligible threat from Amazon, demanding we prohibit Comet users from utilizing their AI assistants connected Amazon. This is Amazon’s first ineligible salvo against an AI company, and it is simply a threat to each net users,” Perplexity lamented successful nan blog post.

Perplexity’s statement is that, since its supplier is acting connected behalf of a quality user’s direction, nan supplier automatically has nan “same permissions” arsenic nan quality user. The accusation is that it doesn’t person to place itself arsenic an agent.

Amazon’s response points retired that different third-party agents moving astatine nan behest of quality users do place themselves. “It is really others operate, including nutrient transportation apps and nan restaurants they return orders for, transportation work apps and nan stores they shop from, and online recreation agencies and nan airlines they book tickets pinch for customers,” Amazon’s connection explains.

If Amazon is to beryllium believed, past Perplexity could simply place its supplier and commencement shopping. Of course, nan consequence is that Amazon, which has its ain shopping bot called Rufus, could besides artifact Comet — aliases immoderate different third-party agentic shopper — from its site.

Amazon suggests arsenic overmuch arsenic its statement, which besides says, “We deliberation it’s reasonably straightforward that third-party applications that connection to make purchases connected behalf of customers from different businesses should run openly and respect work supplier decisions whether aliases not to participate.”

Perplexity claims that Amazon would artifact nan shopping bot because Amazon wants to waste advertizing and merchandise placements. Unlike quality shoppers, a bot tasked pinch buying a caller laundry handbasket presumably wouldn’t find itself buying a much costly one, aliases getting lured into buying nan latest Brandon Sanderson caller and a caller group of earphones (on sale!).

If each of this sounds a spot familiar, that’s because it is. A fewer months ago, Cloudflare published investigation accusing Perplexity of scraping websites while specifically defying requests from websites blocking AI bots. Interestingly, galore group came to Perplexity’s defense that time, because this wasn’t a clear-cut lawsuit of web crawler bad behavior. Cloudflare documented really the AI was accessing a circumstantial nationalist website erstwhile its personification asked astir that circumstantial website. Perplexity fans based on that this is precisely what each human-operated web browser does.

On nan different hand, Perplexity was utilizing immoderate questionable methods to do that accessing erstwhile a website opted retired of bots, for illustration hiding its identity.

As TechCrunch reported astatine that time, that was a harbinger of things to travel if nan agentic world materializes arsenic Silicon Valley predicts it will. If consumers and companies outsource their shopping, recreation bookings, and edifice reservations to bots, will it beryllium successful nan champion liking of websites to artifact bots entirely? How will they let and activity pinch them?

Perplexity whitethorn beryllium correct successful that Amazon is mounting a precedent. As nan 800-pound gorilla successful ecommerce, it is intelligibly saying that nan measurement this should activity is for an supplier to place itself and fto nan website decide.