Were These Reviews Written by a Robot?
Before we even get started, nota bene, this blog post - aside from the title, introduction, and headings (and let’s be honest, a “review” and some commentary at the end) - has been written by AI app Writesonic, because, why not?
Okay, on with the show. With human text up to that first heading.
The internet is a fast-paced place, constantly changing, growing, and becoming more embedded in our lives. To keep up with all of that, we often lean on those with more experience or knowledge, now that we can reach them so easily.
These are people who have lived and seen. Or maybe they're just people who have bought a hard drive from Amazon, eaten at a Hardee's, and stayed at Howard Johnson. We read their reviews and feel prepared to face the world.
But what happens when the people we trust aren't people at all? What happens when the reviews aren't real?
The Problem with Fake Reviews
The most egregious fake reviews go viral on social media. This is when people are supposedly complaining about a fake product but actually they're commenting on someone else's positive review.
There are also fake Facebook accounts that are nothing more than a re-upload of someone's Facebook profile photo as a generic comment.
What makes this even worse is that sometimes we believe the reviews as true, despite how far off base they are.
There is also so-called "content farms" that will post these reviews so long as the price is right, the product is attractive, or it fits the circumstances.
Reviews are so important in the decision making process that some retailers require a minimum number of five to six positive reviews.
How to Fight Robot Reviews
It's easy to see why Amazon wants reviews. What the company gets from them is new customers. Amazon gets those people to enter their email, then fill out a survey, and if they choose to sign up for Amazon Prime, their first month of Prime membership is free.
This free first month is key, because it allows the Amazon reviewer to post a five-star review of that hard drive. By asking these reviewers to tell others about their new purchase, Amazon has a group of people telling people about the new hard drive. And that hard drive is going to sell just that much more.
But there's a problem, and it's a big one. You can't judge a product by a single review.
In this case, the product is a hard drive. Hard drives have been around since the 1960s.
What will the Future Look Like?
Over the past decade or so, Amazon has been accused of forging reviews, of changing product ratings to favor sellers, and of trying to bury a negative review that was then posted to their web site.
Additionally, in 2015, researchers at New York University found that 13 percent of items sold on Amazon were actually fake, a staggering figure, especially when you consider the fact that Amazon makes around $10 in commissions for every $1 spent on an item.
More recently, some contractors building Amazon Go stores found that the store's technology was so advanced that they couldn't put the food through the scanners because they didn't understand how it worked.
With all of that in mind, it's clear that the industry has some work to do.
And with all of that in mind, it’s clear this 10-free-credits AI has some work to do.
Not to toot my own horn, but ME, a human, I can write circles around this AI. Some of it made sense, but some of it sounded drunk, like it forgot what point it was making. And man, did it latch on to that hard drive point (something I might do, to extend a gag, but not to that extent).
That said:
But there's a problem, and it's a big one. You can't judge a product by a single review.
In this case, the product is a hard drive. Hard drives have been around since the 1960s.
That’s just, that’s really something. That’s why they say monkeys with typewriters could eventually write Shakespeare, because every now and then, there is a gem.
Oh, this is still the human. I hope you don’t mind that I switched back to unboldened font after that quote-block above. It felt like the right time. Reading unbroken bold can’t be good for your health, after all.
Anyway, what did we learn here? What were we trying to learn?
I guess that AI and bots can get pretty close to real human writing, but still be just a bit off. But I’m a snarky boy who likes writing, and I have high standards. Not everyone is like me.
People don’t all write like I do, don’t take time writing reviews like I do, and many don’t speak like me. I’ve seen reviews along the lines of “I use to go here, but they changed it insighed if you go you have to get the cheddar dries.”
With a few readthroughs, I get it, but not right away. An AI might not misspell words, but it can be every bit as wonky as someone leaving a real review. I’ve written about bots before and how to spot them, but it always helps to dig deeper, so you know what you’re looking at. That’s why you’re reading reviews anyway, right?
ANYhow, I tried another AI site, to low results, so I simply regenerated a post on Writesonic, using all the same information as before (same title, intro, headings).
This one was worse, so I’ll only post a few snippets:
The Problem with Fake Reviews
The horror stories are myriad. When you buy a product, a weird thing happens. Instead of a pre-written review, you get an ad. A few years ago, this made headlines when Nike was found to be going through reviews of their shoes at actual online stores. The reviews were written by fake people, and included things like "Buy these shoes. I'm too tired to workout," and "They fell apart after a month, and they were four bucks on sale," as well as awful user reviews for Nintendo products in 2014. There were people who'd go to eBay, buy a game, and leave a one-star review on Amazon—for each version of the game.
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They were paying for people to post their opinions on a product. The obvious motivation was the money. But there are other reasons why you might do this.
Back to bold, sorry. That wasn’t as smooth, was it?
I love the emotion of “horror stories,” and that is an odd thing to say about an AI piece of writing. But then it just gets weird. “Actual Online Stores”? What are those? And that “Advertisement” isn’t an HTML website mistake or anything (like we’d have ads!); the word was just like that, in the post.
You know what, this next section is hilarious, creepy, and ultimately unfulfilling, all in the span of a few lines. You deserve it all.
What will the Future Look Like?
"Cinema is an art that needs no clothes." -Michelangelo
But what happens when a movie is being released, and the critics say it looks pretty bad, but the internet is now flooded with user reviews, proving that it's actually an amazing film?
Will audiences believe what they've read? Will the box office numbers be affected by poor reviews? Are we living in a time where the opinions of others actually have a deeper impact than real, human experiences?
I've been involved in reviewing films and products for over ten years now. Over that time, I've noticed a growing trend, which has made me increasingly cynical.
Why do I say cynical? Because of the recent controversy over the Steven Spielberg movie, The Papers, which is based on the events surrounding the Pentagon Papers.
LET’S START AT THE START!
Michelangelo talking about cinema! What?! I love it!
Then, rapidly turning from a conspiracy-addled what-if question, to an almost philosophical question.
Are we living in a time where the opinions of others actually have a deeper impact than real, human experiences?
Yikes! (and yay, byebye, bold!) That’s some deep stuff in the time of Likes and Reshares.
Then a confession from the robo-author themselves! How exciting! Until it just peters out. I guess we all stop being creative once we think about the wonder that is Mr. Spielberg.
Okay, apologies. You know, I have the tokens, I might as well use them. Here’s one more, again from Writesonic (I just thought about writing the real article and saving that reveal for the end, buuuuut, that bit will have to live in my head for now; CTRL-V is much quicker).
The Problem with Fake Reviews
You don't have to be a marketing expert to know that reviews are important in almost all product purchases. A happy customer who likes a product much more than the manufacturer wants is far more valuable than a paid review from someone with a financial stake in the product.
Unfortunately, the internet is flooded with fake reviews. The Federal Trade Commission notes that as many as half of all reviews on Yelp, Amazon, and other review sites may be fake.
Yelp especially struggles with fake reviews, mostly because its reviewers are from a given city. Someone with a keen interest in seeing how others feel about a place will naturally follow the lead of others in that city. That results in cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco having a lot of fake reviews.
How to Fight Robot Reviews
There are many websites and companies who have figured out a way to place online reviews with high degrees of accuracy. They've found a way to put the content out there, get you to click the link, and then have the reviews fall out of the sky into your lap.
The problem is that you may have no idea that they're even fake. They're making a lot of money, which means they have good connections and relationships. These are the people with access to an elite data gathering service, and the "reviewers" they use may not have as much expertise as you'd expect.
How Do We Fight Robot Reviews?
There are companies who can monitor for fake reviews. There are even products you can purchase that can help filter out the fake ones.
Websites such as FakeReviews.
What will the Future Look Like?
As recently as last year, our buying decisions were based on customer reviews, photos, and videos. People would go to places and try to figure out what they liked and what they didn't like.
And maybe that was OK, but how are we supposed to learn about the difference between things when the people who make those things aren't real people?
Fake Reviews May be Bigger Threat to Retailers Than Cyber-Attacks
We may not be looking at the threat of hackers and fraudsters as big of a threat as a "fake review" from a fake reviewer.
Your new iPhone could be sabotaged if a fake reviewer manages to post the same exact review, buying it on a nearby corner and taking the Samsung mobile out for a joy ride. They would then post the same review, pointing out that they really did find all those problems.
Well, it loses its steam at the end, and one section is a little light, but this is probably the best yet. No hilarious mistakes, just a few tiny ones. There are probably just as many tiny mistakes in what I’ve actually written here.
So I guess the lesson is, be careful out there. And go study up on Michelangelo.
