Yelp launches its new AI assistant

American review website Yelp has launched its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant to help connect consumers with its services.

In a blog post, the company states, “Yelp’s Spring Release unveils new features that leverage LLMs to better connect consumers and pros and bring Yelp content to third-party platforms.”

The company claims that Yelp Assistant is a new conversational AI feature that “intelligently guides you through the process of finding the right pro for the job.”

The AI is powered by large language models (LLMs) that allow the bot to “contextually understand your project or problem, engage with it in a professional-like dialogue with follow-up questions, and then match you with businesses that are qualified to help.”

Supposedly, Yelp Assistant is trained on a “vast and reliable dataset” that includes Request a Quote and business information. The bot is also supported by LLMs from OpenAI.

Those who wish to try out the assistant will ask the chatbot which project or problem they want to be solved, then will collect the necessary information to match them up with an appropriate service.

Furthermore, third-party partners are also able to integrate Yelp’s content into their products to help craft “conversational AI experiences.”

“Our new LLM-powered partner solution, Yelp Fusion AI API, enables innovative user experiences using natural language search, even if partners have no previous AI products or experiences,” the blog post reads.

This option allows for the discovery of third-party platforms by facilitating conversational questions such as:

“Recommend a good gym in Miami that has a swimming pool.”

The AI will then generate responses that are relevant to the conversation and will share those businesses the request aligns with. It will also include Yelp ratings, review highlights, photos, and business summaries.