I’ve long been a skeptic of reviews because I know the reality: anyone with a bit of money or time/know-how can game reviews. Have a read through my article about whether people trust reviews from 2015 for more background on the topic.

Fast forward 2 years. There is recent news that AI can now create reviews that neither computers nor humans at the world’s largest review site (Yelp) can distinguish from legitimate reviews.

If any AI bot can populate reviews automatically at massive scale and not get caught by argue-ably the site with the most advanced anti spammer/scammer systems in the world (maybe TripAdvisor beats them) — I worry trust in online reviews as a whole is headed toward zero really fast.

That said — don’t take this article to say I don’t believe finding trusted professionals is an opportunity. I’m still long on that opportunity; it’ll just be damn hard to pull off.