The US Government Has Banned

False Reviews Produced by AI

“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors.”

The FTC has taken action to outlaw phoney testimonials and reviews produced by artificial intelligence.

The ordinance, which was approved last week, targets a wide range of deceptive online review practices, such as buying favourable reviews, buying phoney followers to create the appearance of a large social media following, and “reviews and testimonials that misrepresent that they are by someone who does not exist.”

“AI-generated fake reviews” and other product evaluations that otherwise distort the experience or lack thereof of a reviewer who has tried the product or brand in issue fall under this latter category.

A brand that secretly owns the website where product reviews are posted is prohibited from publishing reviews that do not disclose conflicting interests.

A further illustration of an insider review would characterise a product as “written by company insiders that fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose the giver’s material connection to the business.”

The FTC claims that the ban is meant to protect consumers and their hard-earned money from companies that prey on the dishonest, SEO-driven world of online retailing.

Chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan stated in a statement that “fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,” “By strengthening the FTC’s toolkit to fight deceptive advertising, the final rule will protect Americans from getting cheated, put businesses that unlawfully game the system on notice, and promote markets that are fair, honest, and competitive.”

Nowadays, it’s harder for online buyers to identify if a product is real or if artificial intelligence (AI) is just being used to create fake reviews. In the AI age, the amount of phoney product ratings like one-to-five-star reviews on online stores like Amazon has increased dramatically.

Futurism revealed this year that Sports Illustrated, a renowned magazine, had been running product reviews written by writers created by artificial intelligence (AI) who had faked bios and appeared to know specific product categories. After conducting a more exhaustive inquiry, we learnt that the contractor responsible for those phoney assessments, AdVon Commerce, had published phoney evaluations in several media publications, including the Los Angeles Times and the Miami Herald Times.

Insiders at the company told us that not a single product listed in the buying guides had ever been tested; instead, the guidelines were created in the style of reviews using an internal artificial intelligence engine dubbed MEL.

But it wasn’t even all of it.

Furthermore, our inquiry was the first to reveal that AdVon operated a second, related company called Seller Rocket, which allowed retailers of consumer items to purchase placement in AdVon-generated shopping advice. Stated differently, AdVon was deliberately misleading readers about this relationship to add even more muck.

All of this information appears to be covered under the FTC’s ban, which permits the federal agency to “seek civil penalties against known violators.” This includes the false authors in the bylines, the employment of AI to create the evaluations, and the posts’ covert pay-to-play character.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has complicated the already confusing e-commerce scene by creating fraudulent reviews that reputable news outlets publish and erroneously created Amazon product listings. It’s interesting to watch the FTC take action to clear up some of the mess; ideally, this will pave the way for the human-powered internet and reviewers who truly understand how to help consumers prosper.

President Joe Biden stated in an X-formerly-Twitter post last week that “people shopping for products or services should be able to rely on customer reviews to find companies that provide the best service.” “That’s why the FTC has proposed to stop marketers that use fake reviews from undercutting honest businesses.”

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