Need a Plumber? Caterer? Ask Yelp’s New AI Assistant

Yelp is launching a new AI assistant today to help you find the right person in your town to fix that leaky faucet, detail your car, or help you create the backyard of your dreams.

The Yelp Assistant chatbot is powered by large language models (LLMs) and asks you a series of questions about what you need to get done. Once the assistant thinks it has a good handle on what you need, it will make some suggestions for professionals in your area.

(Credit: Yelp)

The LLM, which is trained on Yelp’s dataset, can also help you figure out what type of professional you need to handle a specific job. For instance, if you’re not sure if you need a licensed electrician or plumber or a simple handyman, or if you need help determining what kind of massage will help relieve that back pain.

Once you’ve settled on who you need, the assistant can send out detailed product submissions to service providers in your area based on your conversation and help you connect with them.

“AI enables us to transform the way people discover and connect with local businesses,” says Yelp’s Chief Product Officer Craig Saldanha. “Yelp Assistant is a game-changer for hiring service providers, alleviating friction for consumers in finding the right pro for their needs while providing pros with the information they need to evaluate and win jobs.”

(Credit: Yelp)

The Assistant works across thousands of categories on Yelp including home, auto, beauty, pet, real estate, professional, event planning, and financial services.

The feature is available now on iOS with plans to roll it out to Android later this summer.

In addition to Yelp Assistant, Yelp is also launching a new Yelp Fusion API today, which will allow third-party partners to integrate AI-powered Yelp content into their sites, and some updates to Yelp Guest Manager, its front-of-house solution.