This, so much this! “Local handmade” but shipping from overseas. 
There are so many sad stories, and the buyers who are influenced them share responsibility for their own disappointment, Commerce is commerce, whether it is preceded by an e or not.
When I buy for reasons other than the merchandise and my desire to own it, my expectations are different. I do not trust the stories told by strangers, and when I am influenced by the struggles by people I know,it is usually more important to me than the merchandise I buy from them.
While Chetty said that AI videos like these might have been easier to spot a few years ago, even experts sometimes struggle to identify what’s real from what’s fake.
In the age of black hat Seller AI tactics like this, how can legitimate Sellers both reassure shoppers that they are authentic and combat the inevitable consumer backlash?
Can US-based Sellers use AI ethically in advertising?
Those adverts are way too polished to be true… and they’re not.
Closing the workshop next Wednesday and I’ll be honest, I’ve still got way more inventory than I know what to do with – just needs to go
That phrase right there tips me to it being an overseas factory. No way in hell that one old dude is making 100s of caps that haven’t sold if he has supposedly been in business since 1988… and where is his shop? No address? Only selling online despite having what appears to be a storefront type shop?
Also photos, AI still can’t get shadows correct. There are conflicting light sources and shadows.
Additionally, that spot on his cheek (in fact most of the facial features)… pick a side right or left…
Note the sign in the background is not flipped in either so George if real has been pasted onto the background.
A real picture of a real schmuck:
To me the only way to “ethically” use AI is to not to.
What something real? It better have a digital history, real pictures, real address (or at least something indicating where in the world they claim to be)
These ads were never going to fool you, and they aren’t targeting you, in the same way that Nigerian Prince emails were never targeted at you. They are targeted at people who don’t have your experience and literacy in commerce or AI. Most people aren’t going to look hard enough to count the shadows. But in any event, what worries me is not the state of AI scams (which, as you point out, are still detectable without forensic tools) as much as the rate of improvement in implementation and sophistication. In 5 years, I might not be as confident as I am today when I write something off as AI.
No shadows, some of the beard hairs have 6 fingers, clearly fake.
Obviously AI. There is no such thing as a happy Amazon seller. 
No, that photo looks legit - Note the following features common to all Amazon sellers:
a) Sloping shoulders, from constant shrugging in response to questions about what Amazon might do next to make his life an unrelenting hell.
b) Receding hairline is not natural, the hair has been pulled out by this poor creature when trying to simply deal with DD+7.
c) Flattened forehead, from the persistent banging his head against the wall labeled “Seller Support”.
d) Glasses, as his eyes are shot from years of staring at Inventory Ledger reports trying to find out where Amazon sent the 2,114 units that they claim were neve received, when they were clearly transferred to another FC after initial receipt at the initial FC.
e) Scraggly beard, as he made the error of ordering an electric razor from Amazon, and the first 3 he was sent were all broken returned items, complete with LPN labels, but sold to him as if they were new.
Can co!!ege students no longer read? Why does everything have to be a podcast or a video?
…and here I am, learning how to use AI in an attempt to convince everyone that we are NOT a “Mom and Pop” operation.
Most adults I’ve met can’t read either. As a 5th grader taking state standardized tests, I was amazed at how bad most of my peers’ reading comprehension was, and blown away when I found out they were actually better than average.
Modern education systems have increased basic literacy levels to be nearly universal, but I’m not sure the percentage of the global population who can actually read has actually increased much in the past 300 years.
On an unrelated side note, if your dyslexic friend passed away, probably best not to try and communicate with them via Ouija board. A…R…Q…M… “Steve, is that you?”