Yelp is releasing multiple AI-powered updates. These include an updated AI assistant that can answer questions about restaurants, bars, local attractions, and retailers. This assistant can also scan a physical menu to provide detailed information about various dishes.
The company is improving its search function with support for natural language and voice queries. It will also highlight popular offerings on business pages for categories like auto shops, hair salons, clothing stores, and parks. This builds on an AI-powered assistant launched last year, which was initially designed to help users connect with services by describing a problem. The technology is now being applied to answer questions about a wider range of businesses.
The assistant uses information from a business’s official page, its website, user reviews, and photos to generate answers. For example, you could ask about the types of animals you might see at a particular zoo. To make things easier, Yelp will display pre-written questions on business pages based on frequently asked questions, so you do not have to type them out yourself. The assistant for services will now remember your preferences to provide tailored recommendations for your next project.
Search is being enhanced by allowing users to type questions in everyday language directly into the search box. The app will also support these conversational queries through voice search.
Yelp has previously highlighted popular dishes and drinks on restaurant and bar pages. It will now also show popular desserts on food outlet pages. Furthermore, the company is expanding this popular offerings feature to more than one hundred business categories. Users will be able to see the top services offered by an outlet in a most mentioned section on each page, such as popular haircuts or color treatments at a salon.
Another new AI-powered feature helps diners explore menu items. Using AI image recognition, users can scan a physical menu with their phone camera. Overlay bubbles will then appear on the screen over different dishes. Tapping a bubble reveals photos of that dish and shows what diners have said about it.
With these new features, Yelp is making search more visual and conversational. This move aligns with the industry trend of incorporating chat-style search tools.
Earlier this year, the company previewed AI-powered voice agents for restaurants and services businesses. These tools are now available. The AI host for restaurants can take bookings, answer questions, handle special requests, and change reservations. The AI receptionist for services businesses can gather project details, help qualify leads, and send call summaries to the business’s Yelp inbox. Other companies are also providing similar AI-powered voice solutions for restaurants and order management.
With this fall release, Yelp is launching several additional features. These include AI-generated videos that compile user photos and narrate information about restaurants and bars. Video uploads are being expanded from ten to thirty seconds. There is a new visual summary for restaurants and bars that uses photos and videos. Service businesses will have grouped before-and-after photos. A new section for planning future projects is also being introduced.