The latest Yelp AI update makes dining and local discovery more visual, conversational, and personalized — from menu scanning to smart voice search and AI-powered assistants.

Yelp is bringing a major AI-powered upgrade to its app — and it’s about to change how you explore restaurants, shops, and local attractions.

On Tuesday, the company announced a suite of new AI features, including a menu-scanning tool, smarter AI search assistant, and AI-driven visual summaries that make it easier than ever to find what you’re looking for — or what looks delicious.

AI That Shows You the Dish Before You Order

Yelp’s new menu-scanning feature lets diners use their phone camera to scan a physical menu. With AI image recognition, the app overlays bubbles directly over menu items — tap one, and you’ll instantly see photos of that dish along with real customer reviews.

This visual upgrade aims to help diners make confident choices before ordering, whether they’re trying a new restaurant or exploring a hidden gem.

Until now, Yelp highlighted popular dishes and drinks. With this rollout, it’s expanding to desserts and over 100 business categories, showing users the “most mentioned” services — like trending hairstyles at a salon or top treatments at a spa.

Smarter AI Assistant for Local Discovery

Yelp first introduced an AI-powered assistant last year to match users with local services. Now, it’s getting smarter — capable of answering questions about restaurants, bars, parks, and retailers using data from pages, websites, reviews, and photos.

For example, you can ask: “What kind of animals can I see at this zoo?” or “Does this café have vegan desserts?”

The AI assistant now also remembers your preferences, offering personalized recommendations for future searches or projects.

Voice Search and Natural Conversations

The app’s search bar now supports natural language queries and voice search, allowing users to type or speak casually — just like chatting with a friend.

Meanwhile, AI voice agents are rolling out for restaurants and services businesses. Yelp’s AI host can now take bookings, answer customer questions, and manage reservations, while its AI receptionist helps service providers qualify leads and send automated summaries to their inboxes.

More Visual, More Engaging

Yelp is also debuting AI-generated videos that compile user photos into narrated clips about restaurants and bars. Video uploads are expanding from 10 to 30 seconds, and new before-and-after photo groups will help service businesses showcase transformations more effectively.

All of these upgrades reflect Yelp’s push to stay competitive amid a surge of chat-style search tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, as well as AI features in Google Maps and other discovery platforms.

With this fall update, Yelp is proving that AI isn’t just about smarter search — it’s about seeing, hearing, and experiencing your next choice before you make it.