- Amazon is testing the use of artificial intelligence to generate a summary of reviews left for some products.
- This feature provides users with an overview of what shoppers like and dislike about the items they purchase.
On Monday, November 28, 2022, on Cyber Monday in Robbinsville, NJ, your package moves along a conveyor belt at an Amazon fulfillment center.
Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon is turning to artificial intelligence to help users find the right products.
The e-retailer recently began testing a shopping app’s ability to use AI to summarize reviews left by customers on some of its products. It includes a brief summary of what the shopper liked and disliked about the product, along with a disclaimer stating that the summary was “generated by her AI from the text of customer reviews.”
A mobile listing for the children’s cauldron toy “Magic Mixes” says that buyers have given positive feedback regarding “fun, looks, value, performance, quality, charging and leakage.”
“However, the majority of customers have expressed negative opinions on these aspects,” the brief said. “For example, some customers have paid him over $100 for worthless toys, while others have experienced issues with product quality and charging.”
Amazon is testing a feature that uses artificial intelligence to summarize product reviews.
The feature was first spotted by Marc Wiezolek, head of technology at Amazon’s marketing agency Fortress Brands.
Amazon confirmed that it is testing this feature. The company didn’t provide specific details about how it works or what AI model is used to generate the review summaries and text.
“We are making significant investments in generative AI across our businesses,” Amazon spokeswoman Lindsey Shanahan said in a statement.
Amazon has long relied on AI and machine learning to deliver targeted ads and personalized recommendations to shoppers. But the recent frenzy around generative AI and chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT has prompted companies, including Amazon, to step up their focus on the technology even further. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in April that generative AI and large-scale language models are poised to “transform and improve virtually every customer experience.”
Using AI to summarize reviews could prove useful for shoppers. Amazon’s online store has millions of products, and a single product can have thousands of reviews. The company has strived to make it easier for shoppers to review products through a one-tap rating system that allows users to leave feedback without writing a full review. Recently, some shoppers started using chatbots to write their Amazon reviews.
Trust has long been an issue at Amazon. Fake reviews are rampant on sites and other online marketplaces, and many companies are turning to a combination of human moderators and automated tools to take them down.
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