Yelp’s assistant chatbot will speak to help users find service providers

As Yelp tries to remind users that it’s more than just a place to find a new restaurant to try, is launching Yelp Assistantan AI chatbot that “contextually” understands what users are looking for and can match them with service professionals in their area.

If you want to replace your bathtub, the chatbot will ask you questions like what type of bathtub you want and what features you’re interested in, and then suggest some nearby bathtub installers. People have the option to write their own messages for select businesses or have Yelp Assistant create one for them. After reviewing the final project request (generated based on what you requested in your chat session), the bot can send it to service providers on your behalf, which Yelp says can result in price quotes better and more accurate.

Yelp says the chatbot also works with other services, such as massage therapists, pet care, real estate or financial services. Yelp Assistant, powered by great language models from OpenAI, is now available on iOS versions of its mobile app and will launch on Android this summer.

Yelp has already added other generative AI features, such as the AI-powered restaurant and nightlife business review summaries that were launched last year. AI is also used to display more content and photos in the app’s home feed.

In addition to Yelp Assistant, the company is also updating its Yelp Fusion AI API, an API that connects Yelp data to third-party platforms. While used to connect reviews and user data, the Yelp Fusion API allows partner businesses to integrate natural language search from Yelp’s database. It currently only supports single Q&A conversations, but Yelp says a longer thread of conversations will be available later this year.

AI search platform Perplexity added Yelp content to search results via the Yelp Fusion API. The updated Yelp Fusion API is now available to Yelp partners, while non-partners can test the service for 30 days.