Project
Perplexity's AI browser, positioned as the vehicle for agentic browsing.
Amazon has cut Meta's Muse off from shopping its store, using the Conditions of Use its own customers accepted. Anyone shipping a buy-on-behalf feature inherits the merchant consent problem that comes with it.
Perspective Coverage
10 publishersReality
Meta's Muse agent reached the top of Apple's free app chart by doing users' shopping for them, and Amazon shut it out of its store on contract grounds, a theory Amazon already lost a ruling on against Perplexity.
Reality
Amazon's robots.txt now disallows ChatGPT-User and OAI-SearchBot, and in ZDNET's tests the shopping agent sent a buyer to Walmart, eBay and a retailer called Soaplicity instead of Amazon listings.
Reality
New disallow rules for ChatGPT-User and OAI-SearchBot went into Amazon's robots.txt without an announcement. Amazon earns roughly $56 billion a year from advertising that bills only while shoppers are on its own pages.
Reality
Meta's Muse started hitting a Conditions of Use popup on Amazon.com on Sunday evening, and the next day Amazon filed a 41-page amended complaint against Perplexity. Anyone shipping a buying agent now needs the store's permission first.
Reality
Amazon stopped Meta's agent at its own website on September 20, citing conditions of use that speak about robots and data gathering tools. Its court case against Perplexity's shopping agent had already been set back on appeal.
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HUMAN's August benchmark has Comet down nearly seven points to 40.7% and Codex arriving at 7.3%. The top four agent operators turned over enough in four weeks to stale any allowlist keyed to July's names.
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The Information reports a valuation more than 50% above the last round, with a licensing arrangement considered alongside it. Buyers of AI search should read the roadmap as supplier-driven.
Reality