Amazon Rolls Out AI-Generated User Review Summaries

Amazon is making a major change to its customer review system. The company announced today that it is rolling out AI-generated customer review highlights. This does not mean AI is writing reviews on products: Instead, this feature utilizes generative AI to summarize the consensus of opinion among all customer reviews.

The company explained that these review highlights will be in the form of short paragraphs, and users can find them at the top of the product detail page. Alongside the summary will be key product insights, such as a product's stability and ease of use. 

For example, Amazon stated that a user could click "ease of use" and see how many users mentioned the product was easy to use in their review. Additionally, it displays an AI-generated paragraph about why the product is easy to use, compiled using customer reviews.

The service is now available to a batch of U.S. mobile shoppers. However, Amazon did not detail how to gain access to the program if you aren't already in it. It did say that more features and participants may be added to the program in the coming months.

Amazon isn't the first to do AI-generated review summaries, as Newegg announced its inclusion of the same feature just a few days ago. Although some are skeptical about this new feature, it may help solve one of Amazon's biggest problems.

A major complaint many shoppers have with Amazon is that it often hosts fake reviews. Tons of positive fake reviews can boost a product in the algorithm, putting it on more pages, thus earning the seller more dough. To combat this, Amazon has filed lawsuits against fake review sources to filter out fake content. Now, the company knows more must be done to remedy the issue.

AI-generated review highlights could be the answer to this problem. Amazon notes that its highlights will only consider trusted users who have had their purchases verified. This and the machine learning modules that determine if a rater's account is fake could help expose users to more genuine reviews.

This new feature is another example of Amazon going all-in on AI. The company hasn't made its AI plans a secret either, as CEO Andy Jassy is even on record stating that "[AI] is going to be at the heart of what we do." 

A few months ago, Amazon hinted that it was working on a generative AI feature to improve search functionality. Thus, all signs point toward AI-generated reviews being the first of many AI-powered features coming to the world's biggest online store.