AI Bots learned how to write fake Yelp reviews like a human
Robots learned how to write fake Yelp reviews like a
human
By Lauren Tousignant August 31, 2017 | 3:27pm
Researchers at the University of Chicago have trained a
neural network, or artificial intelligence system, to write fake reviews on
Yelp – and it’s pretty hard to tell them apart from a human review.
Their study, which will be presented at the ACM
Conference on Computer and Communications Security in October, aimed to
highlight how easily these systems can mimic human reviews – and how damaging
they can become if they’re not monitored properly.
Since many small businesses rely on online reviews to
help grow and sustain their reputation, a future where someone – like a rival
or angry customer — could hypothetically spam their page with negative reviews
written by a machine is pretty worrying.
And, according to the research team, the threat goes far
beyond a bunch of fake reviews on Yelp.
“In general, the threat is bigger,” Ben Y. Zhao, one of
the authors of the study, told Business Insider. “I think the threat towards
society at large and really disillusioned users and to shake our belief in what
is real and what is not, I think that’s going to be even more fundamental.”
To test how believable these reviews came across, the
researchers recruited 40 volunteers and had AI generate five fake reviews for
40 actual restaurants. The volunteers were asked how useful they thought the
review was and whether or not they thought it was fake. The AI reviews ranked
as “effectively indistinguishable” from real reviews, according to the study.
Further, the fake reviews were given a 3.15 “usefulness” rating, compared to a
3.28 rating for human reviews.
Below are four five-star reviews written for the same NYC
restaurant, can you figure out which ones were written by a human?
“I love this place. I have been going here for years and
it is a great place to hang out with friends and family. I love the food and
service. I have never had a bad experience when I am there.”
“Easily my favorite Italian restaurant. I love the taster
menu, everything is amazing on it. I suggest the carpaccio and the asparagus.
Sadly it has become more widely known and becoming difficult to get a
reservation for prime times.
“I had the grilled veggie burger with fries!!!! Ohhhh and
taste. Omgggg! Very flavorful! It was so delicious that I didn’t spell it!!”
“My family and I are huge fans of this place. The staff
is super nice and the food is great. The chicken is very good and the garlic
sauce is perfect. Ice cream topped with fruit is delicious too. Highly
recommended!”
Number two is the only review written by a human; numbers
one, three and four were all generated by the AI.
“It is going to progress to greater attacks, where entire
articles written on a blog may be completely autonomously generated along some
theme by a robot,” said Zhao. “and then you really have to think about where
does information come from, how can you verify.”
The researchers plan to use the study to start developing
technology that can detect and get rid of AI-generated text.
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