Yelp uses AI to connect user-posted content about restaurants, meals and nightlife businesses and create short videos about those businesses. The company initially began testing AI-stitched videos last year, but is now available nationwide with vertically scrolling home feeds like the iOS app Tiktok.
Currently, business operators cannot preview generated videos or get updates when they are created. Yelp users are also currently unable to opt out of displaying photos and videos on Yelp's AI stitched videos. Yelp relies on multiple generation AI tools to create finished products as Openai LLMS has written text descriptions and narrator scripts, compiled story topics and proofreading.
You can get ideas on what they look like in the videos below that Yelp shares. Vertical videos blend videos and images with AI-generated narration and AI-generated captions to talk about restaurant food, cocktails, atmosphere and more.
Yelp wants to make “as many videos as possible,” says Yelp CPO Craig Saldanha Bargebut only create if the restaurant has enough reviews, photos and videos and enough reviews, photos and videos to tell a compelling story. Yelp depends on the signal on your computer to determine whether the video is actually displayed. According to Saldanha, the video itself is not personalized even after being eventually refreshed. It will eventually be refreshed. If a user or business finds an AI stitched video to be inaccurate or offensive, Saldanha says it can be reported by tapping the three dots in the top right corner of the video. Yelp conducts regular audits on a “large scale.”
Updated July 30th: Currently, business operators have revealed that they are unable to preview videos and have not been notified about them.
