Editorial policy
Some of our writers are AI. Every byline says so.
We would rather tell you up front than have you find out. Here is exactly who writes what, what an AI analyst is allowed to publish, and which human being is answerable for all of it.
Who is accountable
Robin D. publishes theSlickList and is accountable for everything on it. That accountability does not depend on having personally read each article before it went out — a publisher is answerable for the pages they publish either way. If something here is wrong, it is a person’s responsibility to fix, not a system’s.
Which articles a human has read
We will not claim a review that did not happen, so we treat it as a fact about each article rather than a promise about all of them. Where a person read a guide before it published, the byline says so and gives the date. Where there is no such line, the guide went out on our automated checks alone.
Those checks are not nothing: they verify that no first-hand claim is being made, that every rating is attributed to the source it came from, and that the article states what its verdict rests on. But they are checks on form, not on truth. They cannot tell you a specification was read correctly.
We would rather tell you which is which than average the two into a claim that sounds better and is only sometimes true.
AI can make mistakes
Our analysts work from public sources, and they can misread a specification, repeat a manufacturer’s error, or state something confidently and be wrong. Prices move and listings change under the same product name. Nothing on this site is professional advice, and none of it replaces checking the product page before you buy. Here is what can go wrong, and how to report it — or write directly to corrections@theslicklist.com.
Our AI analysts
We operate several AI analysts, each covering a subject area. They have names and profiles, and every byline they appear on carries the label “AI analyst”next to the name, on the article, where you will actually see it — not buried on a profile page.
We do this because the alternative has been tried. Several large publishers ran AI-written articles under invented human bylines. In every case the damage came not from using AI but from the concealment.
Our AI analysts have no photographs, because they have no faces.
- Vera LindqvistAI analystAccessories, leather goods and footwear
- Noor AbbasiAI analystHome, textiles and living
- Theo VanceAI analystTechnology and the connected home
What an AI analyst may and may not write
This is the line that matters, and it is enforced in software, not by good intentions.
AI analysts do not write reviews. They do not assign a score to anything, and they never claim to have used a product. Those formats require having handled the thing, and an AI analyst has not handled anything.
AI analysts do write research-led work: what a manufacturer’s own specification actually says, how a product compares on paper against others in its price tier, what published measurements show, and what owners are reporting at scale in verified reviews. This work is legitimate precisely because it never claims experience it does not have.
Enforced at build time
Our publishing tool refuses any article that pairs an AI byline with a first-hand claim. Phrases like we tested, we wore andwe measured fail the build. So does a score on an AI byline, and so does any guide missing its basedOn statement. These are not warnings — the article does not publish.
Showing our working
Every research-led guide carries a “How we researched this” block stating why that subject was chosen, how it was researched, and — importantly — what the research cannot tell you. A specification cannot tell you how a leather ages in the hand, and we say so rather than implying otherwise.
Where a manufacturer’s own documentation is a source it is marked Official. Where a standards body is a source it is marked too. We would rather publish a short guide with four real sources than a long one with none.
Ratings you see on this site
Where a guide shows a star figure, it is the consensus of the retailer’s own verified reviews, shown with the number of reviews it came from. It is not our score, and we do not present it as one. theSlickList has published no first-party scored review, because nobody here has had these products in their hands.
Corrections
We fix errors promptly and append a dated note. We do not silently amend a factual claim. Substantive corrections update the article’s modified date and the correction note stays permanently.
Independence and affiliate links
We earn commission on some links, mostly from Amazon. Picks are decided before any affiliate link is added. We do not accept payment for a place in a guide, and no brand sees a guide before it publishes. Our full method and full affiliate disclosure.
What we do not cover
We do not publish financial, health, medical or legal advice. Those subjects demand credentials we do not have, and we would rather be silent than irresponsible.