back
Get SIGNAL/NOISE in your inbox daily

Yelp is rolling out AI-powered features to help users make quicker dining decisions by analyzing and scoring reviews across multiple categories, marking a significant evolution in how the platform presents user-generated content.

Major feature launch: Yelp’s new “Review Insights” feature uses artificial intelligence to analyze user reviews and generate numerical scores for different aspects of a business experience.

  • The system evaluates user sentiment around key factors like food quality, service quality, and ambiance
  • Scores range from 1 to 100 and are classified as positive, neutral, or critical
  • Users can tap on individual aspects to see detailed scores and access specific reviews that contributed to each rating

Technical implementation: The feature leverages large language models (LLMs) to understand and interpret user reviews in a more sophisticated way than traditional keyword analysis.

  • According to Chief Product Officer Craig Saldanha, the AI can identify relevant topics and sentiment even when they’re not explicitly mentioned in reviews
  • The system demonstrates contextual understanding by inferring meaning from the overall content of reviews
  • This technology represents a significant advancement in how review platforms can process and present user-generated content

Platform availability: The initial rollout of Review Insights follows a targeted approach focused on specific categories and platforms.

  • The feature is currently only available on iOS devices
  • Initial implementation covers restaurants, food establishments, and nightlife businesses
  • Expansion to the services category is planned for 2024

Additional platform updates: Yelp is implementing several other changes to enhance user experience and discovery.

  • The iOS home feed now includes user videos and reviews with photos of recent experiences
  • A new trending businesses feature pulls from Yelp’s top lists
  • A trending searches feature shows popular local search terms, with Android implementation planned for early 2024

Future implications: As AI-powered review analysis becomes more sophisticated, this development could signal a broader shift in how review platforms present information to users, potentially leading to more standardized and objective ways of evaluating businesses while reducing the time users spend reading individual reviews.

Recent Stories

Oct 17, 2025

DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment

The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...

Oct 17, 2025

Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom

Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...

Oct 17, 2025

Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development

The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...