San Antonio, TX, Aug. 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Audrey Tollett, a computer science major at Trinity University (Texas), spent her summer researching how much of a problem fake reviews generated by AI pose to online consumers.
In partnership with Trinity data science professor Tianxi Dong, Ph.D., Tollett worked on a project titled "The Impact of AI-Generated Content on Sales: Evidence from Steam Reviews." This research focused on online video game retailers, specifically on detecting non-human influence on the digital market.
For Tollett, a gamer and president of Trinity’s Gaming Club, this was the perfect intersection of her academic interests and personal passions. “This (work) is important because consumer trust is a big deal,” she says. “If we can't trust that the reviews we read are human-generated, we’d have to rely on in-person word-of-mouth again.”
Tollett’s project delved into ChatGPT and other generative AI models that have impacted the online retail market. “Now, we can't easily be sure if the reviews on a product are human-generated,” she says. “So, I investigated how proportions of AI-generated reviews have changed over time, and how those figures correlate with the sales rankings of these games.”
Tollett was one of more than 200 Tigers doing research at Trinity this summer, thanks to a wealth of institutional resources and opportunities centered around hands-on learning at the University.
Her project was funded through a Semmes Grant through Trinity’s D.R. Semmes School of Science. Tollett says she’s grateful for Trinity’s small size. “Students at bigger schools don't really get to talk to their professor, since they’re talking to the TA most of the time. But here at Trinity, specifically in computer science, most of the professors have an open-door policy, and you can pretty much just walk into their office with your random problems.”
Read the full story here: Review or Ruse?
Carla Sierra Trinity University 210-999-8445 csierra@trinity.edu
