Amazon (AMZN.O) filed a lawsuit against AI startup Perplexity on Tuesday, claiming that its “agentic” shopping feature, Comet, covertly accessed Amazon customer accounts and disguised automated activity as human browsing. The move highlights growing concerns over the regulation of AI agents and their ability to perform online tasks autonomously.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Perplexity’s Comet AI agent poses security risks to customer data and degrades the shopping experience. Amazon accused the startup of ignoring repeated requests to stop its activity and “purposely configuring its software to not identify the agent’s actions in the Amazon Store.”

Perplexity, which has grown rapidly amid the AI assistant boom, rejected Amazon’s claims, calling the legal action a threat to user choice and innovation. The startup maintains that user credentials remain stored locally on devices and that the Comet agent improves shopping efficiency and convenience.

“Bullying is when large corporations use legal threats and intimidation to block innovation and make life worse for people,” Perplexity said in a blog post. The company argues that users should have the right to choose their own AI assistants, portraying Amazon’s lawsuit as a move to protect its ad-driven business model.

Amazon is not alone in developing AI-driven shopping tools, with its “Buy For Me” feature and “Rufus” AI assistant aiming to provide seamless product recommendations and cart management. Third-party AI apps, Amazon said, should operate transparently and respect platform rules.