Amazon Just Made Sorting Through Customer Reviews Easier — But the Change Is Raising Some Alarming Questions The tool features a disclaimer and could save you a lot of time.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
It seems like everyone is harnessing the power of rapidly advancing AI to gain an edge in business these days — including ecommerce giant Amazon.
The company is experimenting with using generative AI to summarize product reviews, and although the move has the potential to save customers time from sifting through thousands of comments, it also raises concerns about the technology's readability and the potential infiltration of fake reviews, CNN reported.
Related: Amazon's AI-Powered Cameras Punish Its Delivery Drivers When They Look at Side Mirrors
An AI-generated review for Apple's third-generation AirPods illustrates the benefits and challenges, per the outlet.
Although it might be helpful to read a summary of more than 4,000 reviews that says the AirPods "have received positive feedback from customers regarding their sound quality and battery life," reading that "all customers who mentioned stability had a negative opinion about it" is ambiguous and potentially confusing.
All AI-generated summaries come with a disclaimer: "AI-generated from the text of customer reviews."
But the possibility of fake reviews finding their way into the summaries is also troubling. According to the fraudulent-review-detection service Fakespot, approximately 42% of 720 million Amazon reviews analyzed in 2020 were phony, New York magazine reported.
Related: Amazon Sues More Than 1,000 People Over Fake Reviews
"We have zero tolerance for fake reviews and want Amazon customers to shop with confidence knowing that the reviews they see are authentic and trustworthy," an Amazon spokesperson told Entrepreneur. "We have clear policies that prohibit reviews abuse, and we suspend, ban, and take legal action against those who violate these policies. We aim to prevent fake reviews from ever appearing in our store and in 2022, we proactively blocked more than 200 million suspected fake reviews."
