Amazon today is announcing the rollout of one of its first applications of AI. Hoping to help make it easier for shoppers to decide if a product is worth buying, the new AI review summaries will condense thoughts from previous Amazon buyers into a single paragraph briefing about what people like from the item.
Amazon launches new AI reviews
Though launching today, not every product listed on Amazon will be paired with one of these AI reviews. It seems like only more vetted products are making the cut, with some of Apple’s more tried and true releases seeing the AI treatment. It also looks like these AI reviews only show on the Amazon app, versus on the standard webpage.
One thing really worth noting is that Amazon is largely focusing on some of the more positive aspects of the product. Often times from the examples we’ve seen, these reviews save the negatives for the end of the blurb, regardless of how impactful those sentiments would be toward affecting your purchasing decision. This is largely in tune with Amazon’s existing search emphasis on showing highly rated products.
Here’s a look at what two of these AI reviews on Amazon for AirPods Pro 2 and M2 iPad Pro.
You can read all about these AI reviews by checking out Amazon’s announcement of the new features.
9to5Toys’ Take
AI isn’t something that we have been extremely vocal about here at 9to5Toys, largely opting to take the approach of just not covering stories about it. But with our coverage of Amazon being one of the staples of the site, we at least have to share some thoughts about the new AI reviews.
My gut reaction is to say that Amazon misses the point on why customer reviews are such an important thing, but I ultimately don’t think that most shoppers care that much. This new feature feels much more like an extension of the five-star rating system than any true replacement for reading what actual shoppers have to say about any given product.
One thing that I am really interested to see play out is if Amazon is taking any precautions to ensure that its AI reviews can’t be affected by bots or any other nefarious play. Back in the beginning of the 2020s, we saw a massive exodus of brands from the retailer as Amazon cracked down on fake reviews that were artificially boosting product ratings. Hopefully, the systems it put in place back then will be able to cover the comment scraping that Amazon is employing this time around.
The new rollout really just makes me appreciative of all of the 9to5Toys readers who do appreciate thoughtful takes on products. Even with announcements like this from Amazon, we aren’t going anywhere, and if anything, the work we do here will only be more important as more sites look to adopt more robotic tools to contrast our more personal touch.
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