New review filters powered by Yelp will show what you want to know

Yelp is introducing new AI features that aim to help users discover new establishments and reduce customer reviews. AI-powered “Review Opinions,” announced today as part of Yelp’s year-end product rollout, quickly summarize how customers feel about certain aspects of a business, such as food quality, service, environment, and wait times.

Review details for aggregated sentiment ratings that provide a quick overview of topics using face icons — positive, neutral, and critical — are shown above business reviews. Yelp users can click on specific topics to read related reviews that focus on those aspects of the business, such as what customers are saying about the food or service.

Yelp says the feature is available on iOS for restaurants, food, and nightlife businesses, and will expand to service categories “over the next year.” Review Insights builds on the AI-powered review summary feature that Yelp introduced in January.

“When you’re searching for a local restaurant, you may have a certain factor in mind that’s most important to you — whether it’s the vibe of the space, how long it takes to get a table, or the quality of the food,” says Yelp’s Chief. Chief Product Officer Craig Saldanha blogged about the announcement. “Even if the review doesn’t specifically mention one of the topics, the LLM understands the context in the review to identify and convey the appropriate topic and sentiment.”

The home server search bar on iOS now has a trending dropdown that shows the most popular terms that other local users are searching for, coming to Android “early next year.” The home page of the iOS app has also been expanded to include new reviews, photos, and full-screen video highlights uploaded by other users showcasing the latest experiences. Yelp says it’s rolling out an AI-powered update that “better personalizes your home feed” in the coming weeks.