Amazon has confirmed it is testing a new feature in its Shopping app – summaries of product reviews, generated by AI.

The summary provides a summary of both positive and negative feedback about products. Beneath that is a note: “AI-generated from the text of customer reviews.”

Why we care. Reviews are a key factor when people are deciding whether to buy a product. This feature could potentially be helpful for users – condensing hundreds or thousands of reviews into a useful summary. The big thing to watch is whether this could possibly negatively or positively impact sales.

What it looks like. Here’s one example of an AI-generated summary of customer reviews for a toy:

What Amazon is saying. Amazon confirmed the test but declined to reveal any details about how it is generating these product summaries. An Amazon spokesperson said:

• “We are significantly investing in generative AI across all of our businesses.”

More generative AI at Amazon. The company is also reportedly preparing to add generative AI to its search experience. Amazon is also building tools for advertisers that generate videos and images.