Yelp is rolling out a feature called Check for Me that uses an AI voice agent to call restaurants on a user's behalf and check wait times. The user enters their party size and phone number, and the agent texts back the results. The move follows a wave of personal-assistant tools from startups like Instinct, Fo, and Muse that automate phone calls for customer support and bookings.
Alongside the consumer-facing feature, Yelp is expanding its AI assistant with an OpenTable integration for in-app reservations, memory of user preferences from past chats, and access to 30 days of chat history. Users can also set custom reminders and build shareable lists, with weekly personalized recommendations arriving next month.
On the business side, Yelp is launching Smart Lead Reply, a paid product that lets business owners specify how an AI agent handles customer conversations to qualify leads. The service costs $30 per month, putting Yelp in competition with other platforms courting small businesses with AI customer-service tools.
The company acknowledges a potential pitfall: a user's agent might end up talking to a restaurant's agent, and agent-to-agent communication could break down. Still, Yelp is positioning itself as a bridge between consumers and local businesses through increasingly automated interactions.