By Jasmine Sheena
Publication Date: 2026-01-12 12:00:00
We all love that one friend who tells us what to buy, right? Maybe not.
In early November, Amazon sued Perplexity AI over the AI startup’s shopping agent, Comet, which can automatically place orders for users on e-commerce sites including Amazon. The outcome of the case, which Perplexity has argued comes down to the advertising business of one of the world’s largest shopping platforms, could have wide-ranging implications for the marketing industry, ad sellers, and retailers.
In the lawsuit, Amazon alleges that Comet AI poses security risks, and that Perplexity disguised the tool’s automated browsing as human activity, constituting fraud. But in an opposition filing later in November, Perplexity’s legal team argued that it believes Amazon’s central concern comes down to Amazon’s inability to sell products to human users through ads if AI agents use the platform instead.
“AI agents don’t have eyeballs to see the pervasive advertising Amazon bombards its users with,” the filing read.
In a counter-filing, Amazon’s legal team seemed to acknowledge that argument, but pushed back: “Amazon’s concern is not that its customers will miss out on advertising,” its filing read. Instead, it argued that the company’s “reputation will suffer when customers miss valuable opportunities to find cheaper products, reduce shipping costs, schedule faster delivery, and see recommendations” on Amazon if they were to use Perplexity’s tool. And while Perplexity, Amazon…
