Tripadvisor's AI summarizer whitewashes negative hotel reviews, ignori

An investigation by Which? Travel has revealed that Tripadvisor's AI review summarizer routinely sanitizes severe complaints about hotels and holiday resorts. The tool has recommended highly problematic locations as clean and friendly.

In Cape Verde, the AI summary described a hotel as "spotless" despite it being sued in court for mass food poisoning. In Turkey, a resort facing multiple sexual harassment complaints was praised for its "friendly service," with the AI dismissing the allegations as lapses noted by a few.

Human-computer interaction professor Duncan Brumby explained that AI models tend to sanitize viewpoints to sound polite. Tripadvisor stated it automatically suppresses AI summaries for locations with serious safety incidents like death or sexual assault, and is reviewing the reported cases.