"Right now, if you want, you can download a web browser called Comet, made by AI search company Perplexity, and tell it to shop for you. You might type, for example, "buy me [a specific earbud] on Amazon," after which it will open a tab, navigate to Amazon.com, enter your search in the box, and attempt to find and click the buttons necessary to add it to your cart. (A browser from OpenAI, Atlas, will do the same thing, as will a few others.)"
"It's interesting to watch a self-clicking browser work, but software like Comet and Atlas - along with other less showy AI agents - also poses an obvious question: What about all that stuff that's getting clicked on? AI companies are suggesting that their browsers will soon be able to interact with websites on your behalf. Won't the people and companies that run those websites, which were designed for use and patronage by humans, have issues with the automation of their visitors, customers, clients, or employees?"
"Amazon brings this action to stop Perplexity AI, Inc.'s ("Perplexity" or "Defendant") persistent, covert, and unauthorized access into Amazon's protected computer systems in violation of federal and California computer fraud and abuse statutes. This case is not about stiffling innovation; it is about unauthorized access and trespass. It is about a company that, after repeated notice, chose to disguise an automated "agentic" browser as a human user, to evade Amazon's tech"
AI browsers such as Perplexity's Comet and OpenAI's Atlas can autonomously open tabs, search sites like Amazon, and attempt to add items to shopping carts. The automation sometimes succeeds and sometimes fails, demonstrating emerging agentic capabilities while raising questions about real-world usefulness. Automated interaction with websites designed for humans creates friction with site operators and raises legal and technical concerns. Amazon filed a lawsuit alleging repeated, covert, and unauthorized access to its systems, framing the behavior as trespass and evasion of site protections. Legal pushback signals conflict between agent-driven automation and website owners' policies and defenses.
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