Our AI works for you,
not the other way around.

Artificial intelligence is a tool — a powerful one — but a tool nonetheless. Trusted Buyer Report was built on the belief that shoppers deserve honest, methodical research they can actually trust. AI helps us do that research faster and more thoroughly. It does not replace the human judgment that makes our recommendations trustworthy.

This policy documents every way AI is used on this site, every safeguard we have in place, and every right you have as a reader. We update it whenever our AI usage changes. If you ever have a question this page doesn't answer, you can reach our editorial team directly.

Our AI systems assist at specific stages of the review and research process. Here is exactly where AI is — and is not — involved:

In addition to our internal editorial AI, we offer four AI-powered tools directly to readers. Here is exactly what each tool does — and what it doesn't do:

We have firm rules about what AI may never do on Trusted Buyer Report, regardless of capability:

Every piece of content on Trusted Buyer Report has a named human editor accountable for its accuracy. This is not a formality — it is the foundation of our editorial model.

• Named authorship: Every review and article displays the name and credentials of the editor who approved it. Anonymous AI-generated content is never published.
• Editor veto power: Any editor can reject, revise, or completely rewrite an AI-generated draft. AI output is treated as a first draft from a junior researcher — useful, but never final.
• Score lock before monetization: Review scores are finalized and locked in our CMS before any affiliate link is placed on the page. The team member placing affiliate links does not have access to modify scores.
• Conflict of interest checks: Our editorial lead reviews every piece for potential conflicts before publication. Any article involving a store that has an active commercial relationship with us is flagged for extra scrutiny.
• 90-day re-review cycle: Every active review is re-checked every 90 days. If a store's quality has changed materially, the score is updated regardless of any commercial relationship.

We believe readers have a right to know when AI contributed meaningfully to a piece of content. Our labeling system works as follows:

• Any section, paragraph, or summary that was drafted or substantially shaped by AI receives an AI badge.
• Entire articles that were AI-assisted are noted in the byline: "Researched with AI assistance, reviewed and approved by [Editor Name]."
• Content written entirely by human editors carries no AI label — it is the default expectation.
• Our four reader-facing AI tools are clearly identified as AI tools throughout the site.

Understanding how your data interacts with our AI systems is important. Here is a full account:

Data our AI reads

• Publicly available shopper reviews from verified retail platforms
• Publicly available pricing data and product specifications
• Store return, shipping, and terms-of-service documents (public)

Data our AI does NOT access

• Your personal browsing history or purchase records
• Your account information (name, email, saved stores)
• Any data from your device beyond what you type into our tools

Shopping Assistant conversations

When you use our Shopping Assistant, your messages are processed to generate a response. We do not store conversation history beyond your current session, and we do not use your conversation data to train AI models. Each session is independent.

AI model training

We do not use reader-submitted content (reviews, form submissions, feedback) to train or fine-tune AI models without explicit consent. Our editorial AI systems are built on commercially licensed models, not trained on user data from this site.

You have specific rights regarding how AI is used to produce content that may influence your purchasing decisions:

This policy is a living document. If our AI usage changes, we will update it and note the change date. If you have a question this page doesn't answer, our editorial team responds to every inquiry:

Related policies: