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Leslie Joseph, principal analyst at Forrester, said Amazon’s action can be read as “an opening salvo in a broader fight for control of the interface.” Agentic browsers like Perplexity’s Comet act as brokers between users and storefronts, stripping away the ads, recommendations, and pricing tactics that underpin Amazon’s margin model.
“This shifts the locus of influence from platform to consumer,” Joseph added. “The episode is a pointer to what’s coming: dominant platforms are on the back foot defending their ‘closed’ ecosystems, while agentic browsers are trying to reopen the web around user-directed automation.”
Amazon’s own initiatives in AI-powered shopping add another layer to the conflict. The company is developing services such as “Buy For Me” and the “Rufus” assistant, which can recommend and purchase products within its ecosystem. Amazon’s move to restrict third-party AI agents may also serve to safeguard these internal projects and their associated revenue streams.
