Amazon Employing AI to Help Shoppers Comb Reviews

Amazon earlier this year began rolling out artificial intelligence-voiced product descriptions for select customers and products.

Now, the company’s “Hear the Highlights” feature has extended to all users, CNBC reported Sunday (Sept. 14), arguing this could replace user-created reviews as the main source of product information.

Among the advantages here, the report added, is that artificial intelligence (AI) won’t suffer from cognitive overload from combing through thousands of reviews.

“It’s important to recognize where AI is currently strong, such as in automation and pattern recognition, and where it still falls short, like in judgment-heavy tasks,” said Ankur Edkie, co-founder and CEO of Murf AI, which develops AI voiceovers. “A key question is whether there’s a way to factor in customer context as an input while generating these summaries.”

The value of AI, according to Edkie, is determining the right “problem-capability fit.” Without that, he added, a sense of “gimmickry” is likely to filter through thanks to AI fatigue, which he says consumers are likely feeling by now.

PYMNTS has contacted Amazon for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

The CNBC report also noted that the tendency of AI to focus on common themes can water down responses even as it summarizes them, taking out the detailed personal experiences found in human reviews.

“AI might overlook unique insights or niche needs that don’t align with the majority of responses,” said Brian Numainville, principal at consumer research firm Feedback Group. “Additionally, the ability to critically interpret reviews — like spotting biases or trusting certain reviewers — is diminished with AI summaries.”

Nauman Dawalatabad, a research scientist at Zoom Communications, offered his opinion that the technology is on its way to improving customer experience.

“I take it as technology helping us to make informed decisions,” he said, pointing to the mental fatigue and wasted time that can result from working through customer reviews.

Meanwhile, recent research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that AI shopping adoption has begun to gain traction with younger and middle-aged consumers. The research found that 32% of all consumers said they have used or would use generative AI for shopping.

“Bridge millennials — older millennials straddling Gen X — lead the way, with 38% reporting AI use for shopping,” PYMNTS wrote last month. “Zillennials are close behind at 36%, followed by millennials at 35%. Gen X is next, at 33%, while Gen Z comes in at 31%. Baby boomers show some traction as well, with 28% using gen AI for shopping.”