Unmasking AI-Generated Reviews: How to Harness Authentic VoC Insights for Real Impact

What Are AI-Generated Reviews?

AI-generated reviews are written by artificial intelligence models, like ChatGPT, or algorithms instead of the customers. These AI tools analyze existing review data to produce new, human-like content that mimics genuine customer feedback.

In some cases, companies use AI-generated reviews as a quick way to boost their brand’s star rating and review volume on platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook and fill in the gaps where customer feedback is sparse. In its August 14, 2024 ruling, the Federal Trade Commission classifies these reviews as fake or misleading and warns businesses against using them to deceive consumers.

There are also cases where customers use AI tools to help structure or finalize their own reviews. This approach can make it easier to articulate thoughts but should still reflect the reviewer’s true experience.

Different Types of AI-Generated Reviews

There are different types of AI-generated reviews that businesses and customers can create:

• Reviews based on existing customer feedback: These reviews can be tailored to highlight particular aspects of the products or services aligned with previous online reviews. 
• Customer AI-generated reviews: Consumers may use AI tools to quickly draft their reviews in order to save time and ensure their feedback is well-structured.
• Reviews generated from company input: AI is used to craft reviews that feel authentic and align with the company’s messaging, but are not based on actual customer feedback. 

How Are These AI Reviews Generated?

AI-generated reviews that are based on existing customer feedback are created using models, like ChatGPT-4, which are trained on large datasets of real feedback. By analyzing patterns in existing reviews, these models generate new, human-like content. 

In some cases, customers use AI tools to help structure or polish their own reviews, though the core experience remains relatively genuine. However, with the emergence of new tools, companies can also easily create AI-generated reviews with basic product information including:

• Product name
• Details about the product
• Highlight the benefits and advantages of the product

Companies can also input desired ratings, and the AI tool crafts a review that mimics authentic feedback. With the power of these AI tools, companies can efficiently generate large volumes of positive reviews, even though they are not based on real experiences. 

Popular Free AI-Generated Review Tools You Should Avoid

There are many popular AI-generated review tools available, but many come with ads, limitations, and premium upgrades. More importantly, most of these tools produce fake reviews, which can harm your company’s reputation and brand as the FTC has announced to ban fake online reviews. Using advanced tools to detect AI-generated reviews, the FTC is cracking down on violators who could face significant penalties and fines. 

ToolBaz

ToolBaz’s AI Review Generator claims to create fake reviews that look real. The tool automatically generates reviews for your product or service by either scraping review sites or using natural language processing to craft fake reviews. 

Editpad+

Editpad offers a free review generator that allows you to input a description of your product or service which creates an unbiased review. The tool also allows you to choose the level of creativity and tone.

Scalenut

Scalenute’s Online Review Generator allows you to pick from several AI-generated reviews based on the information you provide including the product name, product description, what you like about the product, and the tone. 

Typli

Typli’s Review Generator provides a field that allows you to enter your review, whether it’s for a product, person, or business. You’re limited to 500 characters but can upgrade to their premium service. 

A Better Way to Capture Online Reviews

Get authentic reviews. Pearl-Plaza’s reputation management software helps increase both the volume and quality of customer feedback, providing businesses with more actionable insights. Clients like Rural King have seen a rise in online reviews, particularly ratings between 4 and 5 stars. To get started, check your reputation score and see where your business currently stands. 

Why Are AI-Generated Reviews Bad for Businesses?

As large language models (LLMs) and generative AI evolve, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to truly understand customer sentiment and identify ways to improve their experiences.

A recent study by Yale School of Management professor Balázs Kovács, published on April 14, 2024, reveals that AI-generated reviews can easily pass the Turing test, deceiving both human readers and AI detectors. In the study, Kovács conducted two experiments with participants from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia.

The first experiment had participants read a mix of real Yelp reviews and AI-generated reviews from ChatGPT-4. Shockingly, they only correctly identified the source 50% of the time. In the second experiment, AI created all the reviews, and the results were even more striking—64% of participants mistook AI-generated reviews for human-written ones.

Even advanced AI detectors designed to differentiate between AI and human-written content were frequently tricked, highlighting the risks of relying on AI reviews in today’s landscape.

How to Uncover Authentic VoC Insights to Improve Experiences?

In the era of advanced language models, relying solely on reviews to understand needs and measure customer satisfaction is no longer sufficient. To gain a deeper understanding of the Voice of the Customer, brands must gather and integrate customer experience data from multiple sources, including reviews, contact center calls and chats, social, surveys, customer interactions, agent performance, operational metrics, and more.

Pearl-Plaza empowers you to capture and connect unstructured and structured experience data in every format, at every stage of the customer journey—all in one place.

Through our Integrated CX approach your brand can uncover authentic insights from VoC data, helping you focus on key areas that will drive the greatest impact for both your customers and your business.

Experience the transformative capabilities firsthand by exploring our demo. 

Kameliya Doncheva

Product Marketing Manager

Kammy is a dynamic product marketing professional with an insatiable curiosity for customer problems. She dedicates her time to exploring how reputation management impacts demand and retention. Her expertise lies in how brands can leverage ratings and reviews, alongside feedback, to uncover customer wants and needs and build strategies to improve experiences, increase brand performance, and boost local search visibility. Kammy believes that by deeply understanding the VoC, businesses can better align their products and services with market needs, ultimately boosting growth and brand loyalty.