Yelp is releasing multiple AI-powered updates Tuesday, including an updated AI assistant that may answer questions on restaurants, bars, local attractions, or retailers. The assistant may scan a physical menu to supply details about dishes. Moreover, the corporate is improving search with support for natural language and voice queries, and highlighting popular offerings on business pages, including auto shops, hair salons, clothes shops, and parks.
The corporate launched an AI-powered assistant last 12 months to allow you to connect with the precise services by describing your problem. Yelp is now using similar technology to reply questions on different kinds of companies, including a restaurant, bar, local attraction, and retailer. The assistant uses information from a business’s page, website, reviews, and photos to supply answers. As an illustration, you’ll be able to ask in regards to the sorts of animals you may see at a zoo.
Yelp is displaying pre-written questions on business pages based on often asked questions, so that you don’t should type them out yourself. The corporate said that the assistant for services will now remember your preferences and provide you with tailored recommendations on your next project.
The corporate can also be improving search by allowing users to type questions in on a regular basis language directly into the search box. The app will support these conversational queries through voice search.
Until now, Yelp has highlighted popular dishes and drinks on restaurant and bar pages. The corporate will now also show popular desserts on food outlets’ pages. Moreover, the corporate is expanding this feature to greater than 100 business categories. Users will have the opportunity to see the highest services offered by an outlet in a “most mentioned” section on each page — for example, popular haircuts or color treatments at a salon.
Yelp is adding one other AI-powered feature that helps diners explore menu items. Using AI image recognition, users can scan a physical menu with their phone camera and overlay bubbles will appear on screen over different dishes. Tap a bubble to see photos of that dish and skim what diners have said about it.
With these latest features, the corporate is making search more visual and conversational. In response to the rise of chat-style search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, established players like Google have also added similar features to their search and Maps to help the invention of latest places.
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Earlier this 12 months, the corporate previewed AI-powered voice agents for restaurants and services businesses. With its latest update, these tools at the moment are available to businesses. The corporate’s AI host can take bookings, answer questions, handle special requests, and alter reservations for restaurants. Its AI receptionist for services businesses can gather project details, help qualify leads, and send call summaries to the business’s Yelp inbox. Other corporations like Square and Kea are also providing AI-powered voice solutions for restaurants and order management.
With this fall release, Yelp can also be launching several additional features: AI-generated videos that compile user photos and narrate details about restaurants and bars; expanded video uploads (from 10 to 30 seconds); a brand new visual summary of restaurants and bars using photos and videos; grouped before-and-after photos for service businesses; and a brand new section for planning future projects.