Reddit launches AI-powered Reviews feature – with 10,000 products to start

Shortly after announcing its transition to a logged-in experience, Reddit unveiled a feature called "Reddit Reviews" on Tuesday. This feature organizes conversations about products into dedicated reviews that highlight the key takeaways from users across its communities, building on the platform's existing use for learning about product experiences and recommendations.

The company acknowledges the potential for astroturfing, or fake reviews, due to the rise of generative AI and bots, and mentions its rules, measures against automated abuse, and community moderation practices to ensure the legitimacy of reviews. Reddit's AI-powered feature summarizes key discussions about products, providing users with insights into how a product works, its trade-offs, and what to consider before purchasing.

The company tested the feature since February with U.S. users in various categories, expanding its scope to include Home & Garden and Fashion & Apparel in September. It has now rolled out to all U.S. users on iOS, Android, and web, initially focusing on around 10,000 products, with plans to expand to more categories and beyond the U.S. Users can access the feature by searching for a product or category in the app's search bar or clicking on a highlighted product name in someone's comment.

The screen displays a summary of important conversations under a "what people are saying" heading, which includes a visual breakdown of positive, negative, or mixed comments, along with their likes or dislikes about the item. Users can then browse filtered comments by topic or click to view the original conversation for further advice or questions.

The feature is particularly timely as it arrives ahead of the busy holiday shopping season, when people are likely to spend more time researching products online before making significant purchases.