The platform's test of automated product review summaries is sparking concern that advertising will replace human advice.

Reddit announced on Tuesday that it’s testing Reviews, an AI-powered shopping feature that aggregates user comments into product summaries, commerce links, and pros-and-cons breakdowns. In a blog post, the company said it wants to organically use discussions on the platform, from conversations about skin care treatments or coffee to headphones, to help people “understand what a product is really like and feel confident deciding whether it’s right for them.”

The Reviews feature promises to make product research easier on a site that’s increasingly focused on shopping recommendations. But the announcement immediately rankled some Reddit users who are concerned it will degrade authentic human-to-human discussion and advice. Many Reddit moderators, or “mods,” tasked with keeping order of communities called subreddits, believe it’ll be hard to distinguish real opinions from straight-up advertising.

According to Reddit, the upcoming feature will surface product reviews in search results and through highlighted product mentions in comment threads, regardless of a group’s rules preventing the promotion of products by users or brands.

The test launch of Reviews, which was previewed in February and focused on electronics, will start with about 10,000 products across electronics, health and beauty, home and garden, and fashion and apparel. If the experiment works, Reddit plans to expand the feature outside the US and also increase the range of categories and products.

In a Reddit community for the moderators who enforce platform and subreddit rules, the new AI-powered shopping feature was greeted with skepticism and criticism.

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