By Vidhi Choudhary
Publication Date: 2026-03-13 13:00:00
Amazon has won a temporary court order to block AI startup Perplexity’s shopping bots from its online store.
A San Francisco federal court this week put a hold on Perplexity’s Comet browser agent from making purchases on behalf of people shopping on Amazon’s marketplace. Comet is an AI-powered browser that comes with a chatbot that can view and interact using an Amazon customer’s account. Amazon sued Perplexity in November 2025, alleging “unauthorized use” of Perplexity’s Comet web browser’s “agentic AI functionality to access password protected sections of its website.”
While agentic AI has changed the way people search for items online, it has not managed to generate the same kind of buzz when it comes to online shopping. The discrepancy matters because it brings the spotlight back to how human connection remains essential in retail, even as AI agents handle more of the shopping experience.
Specifically, the San Francisco court order bars Perplexity from accessing customer data of Amazon’s “password protected” member accounts, and directs the company to destroy the Amazon data it previously collected. The ruling is stayed for one week to allow Perplexity to appeal.
If upheld, this ruling could potentially restrict AI agent permissions and set a precedent around AI commerce. As agentic capabilities start to take real shape with big announcements from Google and Walmart, AI agents cropping up seemingly everywhere has become a talking point in retail…
