A new study reveals that artificial intelligence shopping assistants used by Amazon and Walmart can identify many falsely labeled "Made in USA" products sold on their platforms, but the companies are not deploying that capability to systematically crack down on misleading listings.
The study was published Thursday by the Columbia Law School's Center for Law and the Economy.
Big picture view:
Researchers examined Amazon's Alexa for Shopping and Walmart's Sparky, testing whether the AI assistants could detect discrepancies between product listings that explicitly claimed items were "Made in USA" and other information indicating the products were imported or manufactured abroad.
The study found that both chatbots were generally capable of identifying inconsistencies, demonstrating that Amazon and Walmart possess the technical ability to flag potentially deceptive country-of-origin claims. However, the researchers concluded that the companies have not broadly applied those capabilities to listings across their marketplaces.
The center, led by former U.S. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, found that the limitations were driven less by technical constraints than by business incentives, raising questions about how retailers are deploying AI tools designed to help consumers shop.
The report also found that misleading "Made in USA" claims appear to be common on both platforms.
In addition, the study said Alexa...
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