Use AI for product descriptions without inventing features

Build the product record first

Collect the manufacturer’s current specification, your own verified product information and the exact variant identifier. Separate measurements, materials, compatibility, included components, care instructions and exclusions. Keep the source date and the person responsible for confirming changes.

Resolve contradictions before drafting. If packaging says one capacity and a supplier spreadsheet says another, do not ask the model to choose the more plausible figure. Mark the field unresolved and request clarification. A missing detail is safer than an attractive but unsupported addition.

The NIST Generative AI Profile identifies confidently false output as a risk. The consequence for product copy is straightforward: model confidence cannot replace evidence about the actual item.

Write a bounded drafting brief

Tell the model who the buyer is, which placement the copy serves and which facts it may use. Request a description that preserves units, variant identity and qualifications. Ask it to list unresolved fields separately rather than fill them with assumptions or include internal notes in customer-facing copy.

For example: “Use only the supplied product record. Do not add certifications, compatibility, durability or performance claims. Keep unknown fields out of the description. Return a separate list of statements that need confirmation.” This is a proposed prompt, not a guarantee that a tool will comply.

Keep private supplier terms, customer records and unreleased commercial information out of an unapproved service. Review the tool’s data settings and your authority to share the source material. A product description task rarely requires an export containing every internal purchasing field.

A worked review of a fictional backpack

Suppose the approved record describes a 20-litre bag with a zip closure, one internal divider and a stated outer fabric. The draft calls it waterproof, airline-approved and suitable for all 16-inch laptops. None of those extra claims follows automatically from the supplied facts.

Remove the unsupported claims. Describe the verified organisation features and provide the actual compartment dimensions if available. If fit remains unknown, do not substitute a screen-size guess. Different laptops with the same advertised screen size can have different external dimensions.

The reviewer can retain readable phrasing such as “Keep small items separate in the internal pocket” if that pocket is verified. They should still inspect whether the wording implies secure storage, protection or a capacity not established by the record. Good editing preserves useful explanation while removing invented promises.

Review claims in the market where you sell

The FTC’s advertising overview requires truthful, evidence-based, non-deceptive claims in its jurisdiction. AI assistance does not change the publisher’s need to support the claims it chooses to display. Other markets and specialised products have their own requirements.

Escalate health, safety, financial, environmental or regulated claims to the person qualified to approve them. Do not let an ordinary copy review silently become that approval. Where the product needs warnings or limitations, preserve them in a meaningful place rather than deleting them to make the copy more persuasive.

Also check the combined impression of title, photographs, badges and description. A cautious paragraph can still sit beside an unsupported certification icon or image that implies an included accessory. Review the customer-facing page as one offer.

Keep website copy and product feeds consistent

Map approved facts to the fields your store and sales channels actually use. A rewritten description should not change SKU identity, variant attributes or the included quantity. Preview a parent product and a specific variant to ensure a shared paragraph does not describe features belonging only to another version.

Google Merchant Center’s description reference specifies the structured-description attribute for descriptions created using generative AI. Follow the current destination’s data requirements; a correct paragraph alone does not establish that its feed submission is correctly formatted.

Do not assume updating the store changes every connected channel immediately. Inspect the resulting feed or destination record through its supported workflow. Keep the approved source record so a later discrepancy can be traced to copy, integration or an outdated catalogue value.

Approve the delivered page, not just the document

Read the final title, description, specifications, selected variant and cart line together. Check units, decimal separators and translated wording. Review the page on a phone so warnings, included quantities and important qualifiers remain visible beside the claims they qualify.

Record who approved the copy and which source version it used. Trigger review when the supplier changes the item, when a variant is added or when a claim is challenged. Reusing a paragraph should never mean assuming that every product in the category has the same properties.

Start with a small, varied sample of products before expanding the process. Include incomplete records and similar variants, because those are the cases most likely to reveal weak controls. Measure correction types and review effort; do not treat the volume of generated text as a measure of catalogue quality.

Continue with the relevant checks

Choose an AI tool by its practical task and controls. Check permissions for the images accompanying the copy. Keep the published language accurately declared.