Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Perplexity termed the lawsuit brought by Amazon against its agentic shopping tool a “threat to all internet users.”
The online retail giant has approached the US District Court for the northern district of California to prohibit the use of Perplexity’s Comet AI agent on its platform, citing security risks and misconduct.
In response, the Aravind Srinivas-led AI company called the action a “a bully tactic to scare disruptive companies.”
Comet, the AI-powered web browser by Perplexity AI, rivalling Alphabet’s Chrome and OpenAI’s Atlas browser, is designed to replace conventional web browsing with agentic AI — software that can think, act, and make decisions on behalf of the user. Users can prompt Comet to summarise webpages, compare products, translate content, or perform follow-up actions all within a single interface, without switching between tabs or tools.
When used on Amazon, Comet allows users to shop more conveniently by asking the AI assistant to search for and purchase items on the platform.
‘Perplexity will not be intimidated’
The AI company expected Amazon to appreciate the integration as it made shopping easier for its customers, but it chose to restrict the tool instead.
“Amazon wants to eliminate user rights so that it can sell more ads right now and partner with AI agents designed to take advantage of users later. It’s not just bullying, it’s bonkers,” the post read.
Continuing, it said "Perplexity will not be intimidated" and promised to stay committed to delivering an agentic shopping experience to its users.
“Amazon shouldn’t forget what it’s like to be our size and passionate about a world-changing product. They too once faced intimidating threats and fought aggressively in every case to give users a better choice.”
Perplexity also argued that Amazon's strategy is woven around protecting its ad profits and influencing purchase decisions through upsells and promotions.
Citing a snippet from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's investor call last week, the company made a point about him discussing the return of ad spends as "very unusual" and announcing plans to partner with third-party agents.
Srinivas had also said he is not worried about Big Tech like OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic trying to copy Comet, saying it takes time for anyone to build such a product compared to any chat tool and that those companies cannot win in every sector.
Ads on Comet browser
In an interview with ET last month, when asked if Perplexity will introduce ads on Comet, CEO Aravind Srinivas had said the browser’s revenue model is around consumer subscriptions, API revenue and enterprise revenue, emphasising that the company’s focus is on “usage”.
“If you have a billion people at the top of the funnel, converting a few million to pay is straightforward. If you prematurely optimise for a few million payers, you risk capping the ambition. What is in today’s paid plan could be free in a year. If you stop innovating, you will only ever be a Notion, Figma, Slack or Canva — great companies, but not billion-user outcomes,” he said.
Srinivas mentioned that Comet has gained “lots of subscribers” and that the targets for average recurring revenue (ARR) remain optimal. “We are making money via consumer subscriptions, API revenue and enterprise revenue. We are growing fast with lots of subscribers. I cannot share our average recurring revenue (ARR), but I feel good about our internal targets.”
Also Read | ETtech Interview: India now our biggest user base; plan to launch local fund: Aravind Srinivas, cofounder, Perplexity
The online retail giant has approached the US District Court for the northern district of California to prohibit the use of Perplexity’s Comet AI agent on its platform, citing security risks and misconduct.
In response, the Aravind Srinivas-led AI company called the action a “a bully tactic to scare disruptive companies.”
Comet, the AI-powered web browser by Perplexity AI, rivalling Alphabet’s Chrome and OpenAI’s Atlas browser, is designed to replace conventional web browsing with agentic AI — software that can think, act, and make decisions on behalf of the user. Users can prompt Comet to summarise webpages, compare products, translate content, or perform follow-up actions all within a single interface, without switching between tabs or tools.
When used on Amazon, Comet allows users to shop more conveniently by asking the AI assistant to search for and purchase items on the platform.
‘Perplexity will not be intimidated’
The AI company expected Amazon to appreciate the integration as it made shopping easier for its customers, but it chose to restrict the tool instead.
“Amazon wants to eliminate user rights so that it can sell more ads right now and partner with AI agents designed to take advantage of users later. It’s not just bullying, it’s bonkers,” the post read.
Continuing, it said "Perplexity will not be intimidated" and promised to stay committed to delivering an agentic shopping experience to its users.
“Amazon shouldn’t forget what it’s like to be our size and passionate about a world-changing product. They too once faced intimidating threats and fought aggressively in every case to give users a better choice.”
Perplexity also argued that Amazon's strategy is woven around protecting its ad profits and influencing purchase decisions through upsells and promotions.
Citing a snippet from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's investor call last week, the company made a point about him discussing the return of ad spends as "very unusual" and announcing plans to partner with third-party agents.
Srinivas had also said he is not worried about Big Tech like OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic trying to copy Comet, saying it takes time for anyone to build such a product compared to any chat tool and that those companies cannot win in every sector.
Ads on Comet browser
In an interview with ET last month, when asked if Perplexity will introduce ads on Comet, CEO Aravind Srinivas had said the browser’s revenue model is around consumer subscriptions, API revenue and enterprise revenue, emphasising that the company’s focus is on “usage”.
“If you have a billion people at the top of the funnel, converting a few million to pay is straightforward. If you prematurely optimise for a few million payers, you risk capping the ambition. What is in today’s paid plan could be free in a year. If you stop innovating, you will only ever be a Notion, Figma, Slack or Canva — great companies, but not billion-user outcomes,” he said.
Srinivas mentioned that Comet has gained “lots of subscribers” and that the targets for average recurring revenue (ARR) remain optimal. “We are making money via consumer subscriptions, API revenue and enterprise revenue. We are growing fast with lots of subscribers. I cannot share our average recurring revenue (ARR), but I feel good about our internal targets.”
Also Read | ETtech Interview: India now our biggest user base; plan to launch local fund: Aravind Srinivas, cofounder, Perplexity