BRITS are falling for fake reviews as AI “turns online shopping into a near coin-flip gamble”, experts have warned.
Consumers are putting their trust in fake reviews as AI makes it easier than ever to flood shopping sites with convincing but misleading content, according to new data from ecommerce marketing platform Omnisend.
Among UK shoppers who use generative AI, more than a quarter (28%) say they trust product reviews more than they did two years ago, while 54% say their trust has not changed. Just 15% say they trust them less, leaving millions at risk of being misled when they spend online.
That confidence may be misplaced. Research from TruthEngine indicates that 50% of online reviews could be fake or misleading. Many major retailers already use moderation systems and verification tools, but the scale and speed of AI-generated content is making this harder to manage.
Two-thirds of UK consumers say they have used AI for shopping-related tasks, according to Omnisend’s research. ChatGPT is the most widely used (60%), ahead of Google Gemini (39%) and Microsoft Copilot (24%).
For most, it is about making decisions more quickly. Over half (53%) use AI for product research, while others use it to find deals (39%) or break down reviews (36%). Nearly half (49%) say it saves time.
Many shoppers are still uneasy about how these tools work. A quarter (25%) say they always double-check AI recommendations before buying, and most others say they check at least some of the time.
Omnisend’s research reveals concerns over AI are widespread among British shoppers.
Nearly half (45%) worry about how their data is being used, while two fifths (40%) are uneasy about AI completing purchases without approval. Around three in ten are concerned about paid placements or biased results.
Even so, reassurance is hard to come by. While some say clearer explanations (26%) or stronger data protection (36%) would help, more than a quarter (27%) say nothing would make them trust AI more.
A five-star rating does not mean much
Marty Bauer, Ecommerce Expert at Omnisend, said: “People are relying on reviews more than ever because they want something that feels real. The problem is that the sense of reassurance can be false.
“A five-star rating does not mean much if the review behind it is vague, repetitive, or reads like it has been written to sell rather than to help. In many cases, shoppers are making decisions based on feedback that may not come from a genuine customer at all.
“AI is making that harder to spot. It can produce convincing, human-sounding reviews at scale, which means the usual signals people look for are no longer as reliable as they once were. Many retailers are trying to build trust with customers, but the tools available to bad actors are improving just as quickly.”
Daniel Mohacek, CEO of TruthEngine, said the public should “approach reviews more critically”.
He added: “The internet has crossed a line where fake content is no longer the exception, it’s the norm. And that is due to AI.
“We’ve analysed multiple millions of reviews and the uncomfortable reality is that if something has a suspiciously high number of glowing reviews, there’s almost no doubt that manipulation has been involved somewhere along the line.
“What worries me is that Brits are becoming more trusting of reviews at exactly the same time AI is making fake reviews harder than ever to spot. AI can now generate thousands of convincing reviews in minutes and most consumers simply cannot tell the difference.
“AI itself is not necessarily the enemy, but it is accelerating an already serious trust problem. People are increasingly using ChatGPT and AI shopping tools as shortcuts for decision-making, but those systems are often pulling from the same manipulated review ecosystem.
“People need to approach reviews more critically. The businesses trying hardest to look perfect are perhaps the ones consumers should approach with the most caution.”
AI is making fake reviews harder than ever to spot
Colette Mason, Author & AI Consultant at London-based Clever Clogs AI, said we are losing the battle against fake reviews.
She added: “People aren’t trusting reviews more because they’re gullible. They’re trusting their real-life intuition and applying it to a wide range of reviews because every other human trust mechanism has been stripped out. Shop assistants, local expertise, being able to touch the thing before buying it, all replaced by star ratings, strangers’ opinions and occasional photos and videos, if you’re lucky.
“Reviews became the load-bearing infrastructure by default, not by choice. Now, that load-bearing wall is rotting with around 50% of all online reviews faked, despite clean-up efforts from retail platforms. In 2024, Amazon invested over $1 billion fighting counterfeits and blocked over 275 million fake reviews. Google removed 240 million reviews for policy violations.
“Both deploying AI and human teams. They’re still losing the battle. For shoppers, that leaves gut instinct, detective work, and faith in a smooth returns policy. Business owners and shareholders are much more at the mercy of the fraudsters.”
Katrina Young, Ethical AI and Digital Transformation Strategist at KYC Digital, said trust in online shopping is being eroded.
She added: “AI is not creating dishonesty in online reviews, but it is accelerating the scale and sophistication of a problem that already existed. The real risk is not just consumers buying the wrong product, but trust in digital commerce slowly eroding altogether.
“For legitimate businesses, fake or manipulated reviews create an uneven playing field where reputation can be artificially manufactured faster than genuine customer trust can be earned.
“Consumers are relying more heavily on reviews because online shopping has become saturated and overwhelming, while AI tools create the illusion of faster reassurance. The challenge now is that shoppers are having to judge not only whether a product is genuine, but whether the social proof around it is genuine too.”
Online shopping is turning into a near coin-flip gamble
Mitali Deypurkaystha, Human-First AI Strategist & Author at Newcastle upon Tyne-based Impact Icon AI, said reviews are “easily gamed”.
She added: “Brits can now only spot fake AI reviews 50.8% of the time, according to a recent academic study by the University of Nottingham, turning online shopping into a near coin-flip gamble for exhausted consumers. People are not becoming more gullible.
“They’re becoming more overwhelmed, overworked and time-poor, so a flood of five-star reviews feels like a shortcut to certainty. We’ve entered a ‘reassurance retail’ era in which shoppers trust stars and summaries because they simply do not have time to properly investigate every product before buying.
“Ironically, when I vet AI tools professionally, reviews are one of the last things I look at, if at all. I check out over 20 other data points first, knowing reviews are easily ‘gamed’. However, in everyday life, even I can end up clicking the first five-star product just to get shopping chores done faster.”
