CHARLOTTE — You’re shopping, relying on reviews. There’s a chance artificial intelligence wrote it, not an actual customer (or even human).
Kyle James writes about consumer savings, including an article, “How to spot fake and AI-created reviews: the 60 second test.”
>>CLICK HERE for more Action 9 reports
Some of his steps:
1. The wording starts to look the same. “You can see through the wording something may be kind of fishy,” he told Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke. “‘I was skeptical, but’… or ‘As someone who’… or ‘This product was a game-changer.’”
2. You see a bunch of reviews posted at once. “You say, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s like 15 new reviews in the last week where, before that, there was like six months before the last review,” he said.
3. Profile weirdness. “If you can click on the reviewer’s name that shows you all of their reviews… if their shopping behavior is really weird and not natural, that’s a red flag,” he said.
4. Item descriptions that don’t make sense. For example: a “zipper” on a phone case.
5. The reviews have pictures -- the same pictures. In other words: AI is using stock photos.
And if all else fails, “Definitely trust your gut,” James said.
VIDEO: Instacart’s AI-enabled pricing may be inflating your grocery bill
©2026 Cox Media Group






