Last week, we asked you whether you’re using artificial intelligence for investing and financial advice. But here’s another use case for AI bots: Product reviews and recommendations – particularly if you can cross reference those results on Reddit.

Years of online shopping mean I’m adept at sifting through Amazon and Google reviews. I typically start with the lowest reviews: Is there a serious, recurrent issue users are flagging? Or are the one- and two-star rankings just nonsense from people complaining that, say, the product is terrible because their package arrived late?

Then I move on to the higher ratings, where I always scan for suspiciously similar language or overly elaborate reviews, often telltale signs that reviewers have been paid to praise a brand.

This strategy has helped me avoid a lot of buyer regret. Sometimes, though, there just aren’t that many reviews to go on. That’s when I’ve started to turn to the bots.

A recent example: Earlier this summer, my husband and I were contemplating a new barbecue. The model we liked the most came with porcelain-coated cast-iron grates. We have long forsaken cast iron grates in favour of the stainless steel kind, which are so much easier to clean.

But, we wondered, was porcelain-coating perhaps as good as stainless steel?

With few reviews on the retailer’s site, I asked ChatGPT. The answer was swift, replete with emojis and definitive: Thumbs down on cast-iron grates of any kind.

I still wasn’t entirely convinced, given the frequency with which AI bots confidently spew out all manners of egregious factual errors. I needed corroboration.

Happily, Reddit has an entire thread on porcelain-coated versus steel grates, and the consensus was that porcelain is, if anything, worse than regular cast iron. (That’s because the porcelain coating easily chips away, according to Redditors.)

In general, Reddit – long known as a favourite hangout for, among others, meme enthusiasts and crypto fans – has also become a great source of candid user feedback on products, brands and retailers.

Pair an AI bot’s concise analysis with the richness of detail of a hyper-specific Reddit thread, and you get the chef’s kiss of online shopping research.

If you have thoughts about online shopping, AI reviews and/or barbecue, send me an e-mail at ealini@globeandmail.com