US Court Overturns Amazon Ban on AI Shopping Agent

A US appeals court has made a significant ruling in favor of Perplexity's AI shopping agent, Comet. The court overturned an injunction that had barred Comet from operating on Amazon, citing a decades-old hacking law. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, written for a very different kind of intrusion, was used by Amazon to argue that Comet was unauthorized access. However, the court disagreed, ruling that Comet is the user, not Perplexity, accessing Amazon's servers.

This ruling sets a precedent for AI-powered shopping and has significant implications for the industry. Perplexity's Comet agent can now navigate Amazon and complete purchases on behalf of users, a feature that many see as the future of online shopping. Amazon had argued that Comet was a threat to its business model, but the court's decision suggests that users will be able to use whatever software they like to access websites they already have the right to visit.

The dispute centered on a 2024 agreement between Perplexity and Amazon, in which Perplexity agreed to pause agentic shopping. However, the court's decision suggests that this agreement is no longer relevant. Perplexity has argued that users should be free to bring whatever software they like to websites they already have the right to visit, and this ruling supports that argument.