Yelp Inc. (YELP  ) has launched a series of new features powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the user experience and strengthen the ties between consumers and local businesses.

What Happened: As per Yelp's official blog, the company is rolling out more than 20 updates across its platform. These include AI-powered business summaries, new recognitions for regular contributors, and a more visual home feed and search experience.

The updates are intended to help business owners operate more efficiently and expand their businesses. Customers, for instance, can now use the Yelp app to find out if the hamburger at a new place is good.

The AI-powered business summaries employ large language models (LLMs) to analyze recent reviews and provide a snapshot of what customers can expect at a business.

Yelp is also introducing new features highlighting regular contributors and expanding its interactive review topics to facilitate detailed review writing.

On the visual front, Yelp is launching a new home feed experience on iOS that uses AI to display relevant photos from Yelp users and content from nearby businesses. The iOS search experience has also been revamped with more visual components to assist users in finding the right business for their needs.

Yelp has unveiled a new data-driven homepage for business owners with enhanced performance and customer and competitor insights. The company has also improved the experience for new advertisers on Yelp, aiding them in determining the appropriate ad budget for their business.

Why It Matters: This major update from Yelp comes at a time when AI-powered tools are increasingly being used to enhance user experience and streamline operations.

For instance, Amazon.com Inc. recently introduced an AI tool in its mobile app to respond to customer queries about products. This tool quickly returns a summarized answer, drawing from the product's reviews and listing.

Yelp's move to incorporate AI in its updates aligns with this trend.