A US appeals court has allowed Perplexity’s AI shopping agent back on Amazon, according to The Decoder. The decision revives a broader fight over whether third-party agents can browse, compare, and potentially buy through large retail platforms.
Shopping agents challenge the way marketplaces control user experience, data access, and transactions. If an assistant acts for a customer, the platform must decide whether to treat it like a normal browser session, a bot, or an unauthorized intermediary.
For consumers, the appeal is convenience: agents could compare products, monitor prices, and complete purchases with less manual work. For platforms, the risks include scraping, fraud, degraded recommendations, and loss of control over checkout flows.
The court decision does not settle the long-term rules for agent commerce. It does show that browser-based AI agents are quickly becoming a legal and business issue, not only a technical demo.