BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Freshman wide receiver George Dimopoulos threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Dane Pardridge on the first play of double overtime and Jordan Hansen ended the game on a fourth-down sack to give Northern Illinois a 28-20 victory over Fresno State on Monday in the Idaho Potato Bowl. Dimopoulos, who played quarterback in high school, also converted the two-point conversion when he passed it to quarterback Josh Holst for his second completion of the season. Holst, a freshman walk-on, was making just his third start at quarterback as NIU was without starter Ethan Hampton, who entered with 1,600 yards and 12 touchdowns to go with six interceptions. Holst completed 18 of 30 passes for 182 and two touchdowns for Northern Illinois (8-5). He was also intercepted on the first play of the game. Both teams missed a 35-yard field goal in the final three minutes of regulation, including Dylan Lynch's third miss of the game on the final play to send it to overtime. Fresno State started overtime with a touchdown when Bryson Donelson was left wide open out of the backfield to haul in a 9-yard touchdown pass. NIU needed five plays, and a defensive holding penalty, to score as Holst found Grayson Barnes for a 3-yard touchdown. Donelson finished with 15 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown for Fresno State (6-7). He added three catches for 28 yards and another score. Dual-threat quarterback Joshua Wood was 16 of 23 for 180 yards and a touchdown. Mac Dalena made six catches for 118 yards to help go over 1,000 yards for the season. Fresno State was without 14 players, including starting quarterback Mikey Keene after he transferred to Michigan. Two top-three receivers, Jalen Moss and Raylen Sharpe, also did not play as the Bulldogs were forced to use five new starters. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballSpecified Technologies Inc. Unveils Firestop Clash Management and Locator Updates
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S&P/TSX composite up almost 150 at closing, U.S. markets also higherQuest Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 26,146 Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)
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Ex-DePaul guard leads N. Illinois against Chris Holtmann's Blue DemonsQuest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. ( NASDAQ:COLB – Free Report ) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 26,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $683,000. Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Columbia Banking System by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,327,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $432,041,000 after purchasing an additional 574,509 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Columbia Banking System during the first quarter worth about $867,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 108,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,093,000 after acquiring an additional 6,351 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,468,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,468,000 after acquiring an additional 788,383 shares during the period. Finally, Interval Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,829,000. Institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COLB. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Columbia Banking System has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.12. Columbia Banking System Trading Up 3.2 % COLB opened at $31.64 on Friday. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.08 and a 1-year high of $31.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System ( NASDAQ:COLB – Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.80 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 16.15%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year. Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.34%. Columbia Banking System Profile ( Free Report ) Columbia Banking System, Inc operates as the holding company of Umpqua Bank that provides banking, private banking, mortgage, and other financial services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business, non-interest bearing checking, interest-bearing checking and savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and insured cash sweep and other investment sweep solutions. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding COLB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Columbia Banking System, Inc. ( NASDAQ:COLB – Free Report ). Receive News & Ratings for Columbia Banking System Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Columbia Banking System and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter .
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NeueHealth to Be Taken Private by NEA and Consortium of InvestorsOleksandr Usyk retained his WBA, WBC and WBO heavyweight titles with a in their rematch this past Saturday in Riyadh to cement his place as the best heavyweight in the world, and for Uncrowned, our inaugural No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in boxing today. Usyk is just one of three male fighters to become a two-division undisputed champion in the four-belt era, alongside Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue. So it should come as little surprise that these three elite, undefeated fighters dominate the top spots in Uncrowned's pound-for-pound lists. In November, in another major rematch on the women's side of the sport, Katie Taylor went up 2-0 in her rivalry with Amanda Serrano. Although she won a unanimous decision on the scorecards, with all three judges awarding her the fight by a single point, . There has long been a two-horse race for the No. 1 pound-for-pound spot in women's boxing, pitting the Irishwoman Taylor against American champion Claressa Shields. While Shields has been more dominant in her wins, Taylor owns the superior résumé. Uncrowned's panel of boxing experts — Keith Idec, Elliot Worsell, Darshan Desai and Kel Dansby — have ranked both the men’s and women’s pound-for-pound best, one through 10, using a weighted points system to determine the final rankings. (Being voted No. 1 equals 10 points, No. 2 equals nine points, down to No. 10 equaling one point.) So here's Uncrowned's inaugural pound-for-pound rankings for boxing! After scoring seven wins over five big-name British heavyweights, Usyk has implausibly become a fan favorite across the pond in the U.K. The Ukrainian is the epitome of fighting "anywhere at any time." He has boxed in world title fights in seven different countries, mostly against the fighters from those countries. For many, Usyk has completed boxing. After capturing undisputed titles at cruiserweight and heavyweight and taking out every major challenge along the way, there is little left to do in the sport for Usyk. But should he continue, his biggest test could come against the IBF cruiserweight champion, Jai Opetaia. Terence Crawford is your favorite fighter's favorite fighter. , over himself. "Bud" managed to clean out super lightweight without too much adversity then dove into 147 pounds as a feared fighter. Boxing politics prevented Crawford from proving himself as the best welterweight in the world for several years, but when he finally did land his long-awaited superfight with Errol Spence Jr., he showed exactly why he was avoided for so long. A fight initially thought to be a 50-50 match on paper became a total mismatch in reality. Crawford pummeled Spence for a ninth-round TKO win. Recently, the Omaha native edged Israil Madrimov to become a four-division champion and is now aiming for a lucrative bout with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez up at super middleweight. Naoya Inoue began getting the recognition he truly deserved from the boxing community outside of Japan when he outboxed and knocked out Stephen Fulton in Tokyo in July 2023. Inoue followed that up with a stoppage win over Marlon Tapales to fully unify a second weight division in a mere five months with just two fights. Inoue had a more routine 2024, defending his belts twice, and is . Mandatory defenses against Murodjon Akhmadaliev and David Rey Picasso likely await him later in 2025. Beterbiev edged a controversial decision over Dmitry Bivol in October to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion. Some boxing fans, including Turki Alalshikh, were dissatisfied with the result, so an immediate rematch was made for Feb. 22 in Riyadh. Beterbiev, 39, has picked up the 175-pound titles one by one and will likely look for a move up to cruiserweight to become a two-division champion should he emerge victorious in February. A fight between Beterbiev and the consensus No. 1 cruiserweight, Jai Opetaia, would be a sensational matchup for late 2025. And there's a chance that by the time it happens, it could be for all four cruiserweight belts — meaning a win would see Beterbiev join the top three in this list as two-division undisputed champions. Jesse Rodriguez stepped in to face Carlos Cuadras on five days' notice for his first world title. It was a two-division jump for "Bam," but his trainer, Robert Garcia, had no doubt his charge was up to the test. Rodriguez impressed to capture the WBC super flyweight crown and has never looked back. The 24-year-old has taken out three of the four kings at super flyweight and is now chasing undisputed status at 115 pounds. Saul Alvarez has been the sport's biggest commercial star for almost a decade. The Mexican faced the best opponents boxing had to offer across many divisions until his May 2022 defeat to Dmitry Bivol. Since then, it does seem as if available to him, such as David Benavidez or Crawford. Alvarez's latest bout against Edgar Berlanga was an underwhelming choice of opponent for the majority of boxing fans. Nevertheless, the event was a monetary success due to the Mexico vs. Puerto Rico rivalry and Alvarez's hardcore fanbase. "Canelo" could choose to continue taking similarly straightforward contests for the remainder of his career if they come with a sufficient financial reward. Bivol held the WBA light heavyweight crown for seven years until falling short to Beterbiev in their undisputed title fight in October. During his reign, Bivol made 12 successful defenses, which included an upset win over "Canelo" in 2022. Due to the closeness of Bivol's fight with Beterbiev, he still appears in pound-for-pound lists and is even ranked ahead of Beterbiev in a few of them, with some pundits insistent that he should still be considered the man at light heavyweight. Junto Nakatani is perhaps in the position Inoue was among the wider boxing community before Inoue's win over Fulton. As an undefeated three-division champion, but one based in the lower weights and away from the Western community, Nakatani is still building a fan base in the US. He needs a breakout moment, and that could come against his Japanese counterpart. A mega all-Japan showdown between Inoue and Nakatani is tentatively being planned for the spring of 2026, per Inoue's promoter Hideyuki Ohashi. Davis, 30, claimed in early December that he will be because boxing "is trash, garbage." "Tank" is one of the biggest attractions in US boxing, but he doesn't have a résumé that warrants the fan base. Despite being at world level for eight years, his best win is Ryan Garcia, who has never won a world title, and that fight came with a weight stipulation that somewhat devalues the victory. In fairness to Davis, he in the second half of 2024, but the matchup didn't materialize because Lomachenko decided not to return to the ring until 2025. If 2025 is Davis' final year in the sport, boxing fans need to see him finally share the ring with the high-level competition that his talent merits. A three-division world champion, Stevenson, 27, is crying out for the big fights at 135 pounds. He recently joined Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing to further that cause and will make his debut for the promotional company on against Floyd Schofield. With Turki Alalshikh watching closely from ringside, an impressive performance on that super-card is vital in helping Stevenson secure the unification fights he's been calling for. Alalshikh's wallet has helped break down the cross-promotional barriers boxing fans are used to seeing get in the way of big fights, and he could be instrumental in securing a bout for Stevenson with the likes of "Tank" Davis, Lomachenko, or Devin Haney. Claressa Shields is a five-division world champion and one of just two female boxers, alongside Katie Taylor, to have held undisputed titles at two weight divisions. Shields is currently campaigning at heavyweight, which is home to just 19 active and registered fighters. She won undisputed gold at middleweight, where there are only 37 active participants, and at super welterweight, which has 63 registered boxers. With just 100 fighters in the two divisions she's won undisputed in, it's understandable why the two-time Olympic champion has struggled to find big-name dance partners. Regardless, she has beaten every contender put in front of her, and that's all that we can ask of any pugilist. Taylor has by far the best résumé in women's boxing with wins over Amanda Serrano, Delfine Persoon and Chantelle Cameron. The Irishwoman is nearing the end of her pro career and has just one or two bouts left, which we selfishly hope are trilogies against Serrano and Cameron in 2025. Puerto Rico's Serrano was left disappointed, again, not to get the nod in her rematch with Taylor last month. Despite being a seven-division champion, she has fallen short in her two biggest challenges against Taylor, but could have a chance to put it right in what would be a highly-anticipated trilogy in the spring of 2025, for which . Should the Taylor-Serrano trilogy not materialize, the WBC made it clear that Chantelle Cameron would be next in line for Taylor's WBC championship. Cameron and Taylor shared one win apiece in their two bouts in Ireland last year. Cameron has worked her way back to another shot at the championship, winning two bouts in 2024 after losing her belts to Taylor in their November 2023 rematch. Natasha Jonas had a stellar 2024, edging Mikaela Mayer in a Fight of the Year contender and then winning a convincing decision over Ivana Habazin to unify two welterweight straps. She faces WBA champion Lauren Price in an all-Britain unification contest on March 8 atop an all-women's card in London. Should Jonas emerge victorious, a rematch with Mayer for all four 147-pound belts would be likely. Gabriel Fundora impressively stopped Gabriela Alaniz to unify the flyweight division in November in Las Vegas. At just 22, she is the youngest undisputed champion of the four-belt era, and she could well be the face of women's boxing in the years to come. Alycia Baumgardner announced herself to the pugilist community when she knocked out Terri Harper on her feet to win the WBC super featherweight title in November 2021. Baumgardner eventually became the undisputed champion at 130 pounds, beating Mikaela Mayer, but her career was halted for some time after failing an anti-doping test in the lead-up to her title defense against Christina Linardatou. The American has boxed once since, against Delfine Persoon in a fight that was declared a no contest. The WBC has already ordered an immediate rematch between Baumgardner and Persoon. Mayer has been on the wrong end of two disputed decisions. In 2022, she was considered unlucky not to get her hand raised after 10 brilliant rounds with Baumgardner, and earlier this year, she came away second-best again in the eyes of the judges against Jonas. The rub of the green finally favored Mayer in September, though, when she edged Sandy Ryan to win the WBO welterweight title. Mayer-Ryan, alongside Taylor-Serrano 2, are the frontrunners for the women's fights of the year, and hopefully, we can see them both again in 2025. Savannah Marshall was the biggest threat to Shields' dominance at the higher weight classes. She had power that was rarely seen in women's boxing. But when the two did collide, Shields displayed her greatness, dominating the first half of their match. Marshall managed to tighten things up over the final five rounds, but she still came up short. Marshall rebounded to win the undisputed super middleweight titles in her fight after and has since transitioned to MMA, chasing a rematch with Shields in the PFL. Her next appearance, however, is expected to be a boxing match, likely on the Jonas-Price undercard. Dina Thorslund has secured world titles in two weight classes: Bantamweight and super bantamweight. Since unifying in 2023, she has made three successful defenses of her bantamweight crown. Promoter Lou DiBella is organizing a bantamweight tournament, which could feature all three belt holders in the weight class and would provide Thorslund the path to undisputed. MEN Terence Crawford Oleksandr Usyk Naoya Inoue Artur Beterbiev Dmitry Bivol Jesse Rodriguez Saul Alvarez Gervonta Davis Tyson Fury Junto Nakatani WOMEN Claressa Shields Katie Taylor Amanda Serrano Chantelle Cameron Savannah Marshall Natasha Jonas Mikaela Mayer Sandy Ryan Gabriela Fundora Alycia Baumgardner MEN Oleksandr Usyk Terence Crawford Naoya Inoue Artur Beterbiev Dmitry Bivol Saul Alvarez Junto Nakatani Jesse Rodriguez Gervonta Davis Shakur Stevenson WOMEN Claressa Shields Katie Taylor Gabriela Fundora Dina Thorslund Amanda Serrano Yokasta Valle Chantelle Cameron Alycia Baumgardner Natasha Jonas Delfine Persoon MEN Oleksandr Usyk Naoya Inoue Terence Crawford Artur Beterbiev Jesse Rodriguez Dmitry Bivol Saul Alvarez Shakur Stevenson Devin Haney Gervonta Davis WOMEN Katie Taylor Claressa Shields Amanda Serrano Chantelle Cameron Alycia Baumgardner Natasha Jonas Ellie Scotney Gabriela Fundora Yokasta Valle Mikaela Mayer MEN Oleksandr Usyk Naoya Inoue Terence Crawford Jesse Rodriguez Artur Beterbiev Saul Alvarez Junto Nakatani Teofimo Lopez Shakur Stevenson Gervonta Davis WOMEN Claressa Shields Katie Taylor Amanda Serrano Natasha Jonas Gabriela Fundora Chantelle Cameron Alycia Baumgardner Mikaela Mayer Savannah Marshall Skye NicolsonManchester United: Ruben Amorim makes admission over best line-up amid heavy squad rotationFRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- On Monday, the Fresno State Bulldogs fell to the Northern Illinois Huskies in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on the blue in Boise. In the fourth quarter and overtime alone, the game saw two missed go-ahead field goals (one from each team), three quick overtime touchdowns, endless overtime trickeration from NIU and, eventually, a crushing, game-winning fourth-down sack from Jordan Hansen to give the Huskies a 28-20 win. Both teams had chances to seize the game in regulation. Fresno State led 13-3 at halftime, but NIU scored 10 points early in the second half -- including six on a beautiful 26-yard touchdown catch from Grayson Barnes -- to tie the game heading into the fourth quarter. NIU drove the length of the field late but settled for a 35-yard field goal on fourth-and-1 (violating the swashbuckling spirit of the Potato Bowl) and missed with 3:02 left. Then Fresno State missed a 34-yarder at the buzzer, too. Fresno State was playing without several key players, including quarterback Mikey Keene, who announced just before kickoff that he would be going to Michigan State for his Senior season. RELATED: Former Fresno State QB Mikey Keene transferring to Michigan It was also the final game for Tim Skipper as interim head coach. He will be replaced in 2025 by Matt Entz, the former head coach at North Dakota State University. RELATED: Matt Entz formally introduced as Fresno State Football's head coach ESPN's Bill Connelly contributed to this report.
Southport rioter filmed being hit in groin with brick jailedBy HALELUYA HADERO The emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools that allow people to efficiently produce novel and detailed online reviews with almost no work has put merchants , service providers and consumers in uncharted territory, watchdog groups and researchers say. Related Articles National News | Bluesky finds with growth comes growing pains — and bots National News | Mega Millions jackpot nears $1 billion ahead of Christmas Eve drawing National News | The Container Store, buffeted by rough housing market and competition, seeks bankruptcy protection National News | An ex-police officer is convicted of lying about leaks to the Proud Boys leader National News | 2 US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent ‘friendly fire’ incident, US military says Phony reviews have long plagued many popular consumer websites, such as Amazon and Yelp. They are typically traded on private social media groups between fake review brokers and businesses willing to pay. Sometimes, such reviews are initiated by businesses that offer customers incentives such as gift cards for positive feedback. But AI-infused text generation tools, popularized by OpenAI’s ChatGPT , enable fraudsters to produce reviews faster and in greater volume, according to tech industry experts. The deceptive practice, which is illegal in the U.S. , is carried out year-round but becomes a bigger problem for consumers during the holiday shopping season , when many people rely on reviews to help them purchase gifts. Fake reviews are found across a wide range of industries, from e-commerce, lodging and restaurants, to services such as home repairs, medical care and piano lessons. The Transparency Company, a tech company and watchdog group that uses software to detect fake reviews, said it started to see AI-generated reviews show up in large numbers in mid-2023 and they have multiplied ever since. For a report released this month, The Transparency Company analyzed 73 million reviews in three sectors: home, legal and medical services. Nearly 14% of the reviews were likely fake, and the company expressed a “high degree of confidence” that 2.3 million reviews were partly or entirely AI-generated. “It’s just a really, really good tool for these review scammers,” said Maury Blackman, an investor and advisor to tech startups, who reviewed The Transparency Company’s work and is set to lead the organization starting Jan. 1. In August, software company DoubleVerify said it was observing a “significant increase” in mobile phone and smart TV apps with reviews crafted by generative AI. The reviews often were used to deceive customers into installing apps that could hijack devices or run ads constantly, the company said. The following month, the Federal Trade Commission sued the company behind an AI writing tool and content generator called Rytr, accusing it of offering a service that could pollute the marketplace with fraudulent reviews. The FTC, which this year banned the sale or purchase of fake reviews, said some of Rytr’s subscribers used the tool to produce hundreds and perhaps thousands of reviews for garage door repair companies, sellers of “replica” designer handbags and other businesses. Max Spero, CEO of AI detection company Pangram Labs, said the software his company uses has detected with almost certainty that some AI-generated appraisals posted on Amazon bubbled up to the top of review search results because they were so detailed and appeared to be well thought-out. But determining what is fake or not can be challenging. External parties can fall short because they don’t have “access to data signals that indicate patterns of abuse,” Amazon has said. Pangram Labs has done detection for some prominent online sites, which Spero declined to name due to non-disclosure agreements. He said he evaluated Amazon and Yelp independently. Many of the AI-generated comments on Yelp appeared to be posted by individuals who were trying to publish enough reviews to earn an “Elite” badge, which is intended to let users know they should trust the content, Spero said. The badge provides access to exclusive events with local business owners. Fraudsters also want it so their Yelp profiles can look more realistic, said Kay Dean, a former federal criminal investigator who runs a watchdog group called Fake Review Watch. To be sure, just because a review is AI-generated doesn’t necessarily mean its fake. Some consumers might experiment with AI tools to generate content that reflects their genuine sentiments. Some non-native English speakers say they turn to AI to make sure they use accurate language in the reviews they write. “It can help with reviews (and) make it more informative if it comes out of good intentions,” said Michigan State University marketing professor Sherry He, who has researched fake reviews. She says tech platforms should focus on the behavioral patters of bad actors, which prominent platforms already do, instead of discouraging legitimate users from turning to AI tools. Prominent companies are developing policies for how AI-generated content fits into their systems for removing phony or abusive reviews. Some already employ algorithms and investigative teams to detect and take down fake reviews but are giving users some flexibility to use AI. Spokespeople for Amazon and Trustpilot, for example, said they would allow customers to post AI-assisted reviews as long as they reflect their genuine experience. Yelp has taken a more cautious approach, saying its guidelines require reviewers to write their own copy. “With the recent rise in consumer adoption of AI tools, Yelp has significantly invested in methods to better detect and mitigate such content on our platform,” the company said in a statement. The Coalition for Trusted Reviews, which Amazon, Trustpilot, employment review site Glassdoor, and travel sites Tripadvisor, Expedia and Booking.com launched last year, said that even though deceivers may put AI to illicit use, the technology also presents “an opportunity to push back against those who seek to use reviews to mislead others.” “By sharing best practice and raising standards, including developing advanced AI detection systems, we can protect consumers and maintain the integrity of online reviews,” the group said. The FTC’s rule banning fake reviews, which took effect in October, allows the agency to fine businesses and individuals who engage in the practice. Tech companies hosting such reviews are shielded from the penalty because they are not legally liable under U.S. law for the content that outsiders post on their platforms. Tech companies, including Amazon, Yelp and Google, have sued fake review brokers they accuse of peddling counterfeit reviews on their sites. The companies say their technology has blocked or removed a huge swath of suspect reviews and suspicious accounts. However, some experts say they could be doing more. “Their efforts thus far are not nearly enough,” said Dean of Fake Review Watch. “If these tech companies are so committed to eliminating review fraud on their platforms, why is it that I, one individual who works with no automation, can find hundreds or even thousands of fake reviews on any given day?” Consumers can try to spot fake reviews by watching out for a few possible warning signs , according to researchers. Overly enthusiastic or negative reviews are red flags. Jargon that repeats a product’s full name or model number is another potential giveaway. When it comes to AI, research conducted by Balázs Kovács, a Yale professor of organization behavior, has shown that people can’t tell the difference between AI-generated and human-written reviews. Some AI detectors may also be fooled by shorter texts, which are common in online reviews, the study said. However, there are some “AI tells” that online shoppers and service seekers should keep it mind. Panagram Labs says reviews written with AI are typically longer, highly structured and include “empty descriptors,” such as generic phrases and attributes. The writing also tends to include cliches like “the first thing that struck me” and “game-changer.”AP Trending SummaryBrief at 6:41 p.m. EST