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TripleTen Survey Finds AI Adoption Spreads Unevenly Beyond TechEngadget: Google One offers family storage sharing and AI perks beyond extra spaceCNET Group Launches Free TechPulse App Combining Six Tech PublicationsRockstar artists have worked on GTA 6's map for 11 years, co-head says narrower roads created 'ripple effects'Google Messages beta code points to satellite, terrain and traffic layers for location sharingGarmin Connect IQ Store Sees 'Enormous Influx' of Submissions, Review Backlog
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Yelp Adds AI Voice Agent to Call Restaurants for Wait Times

Yelp introduced Check for Me, an AI agent that calls restaurants for wait times, plus OpenTable booking, assistant memory, custom lists and a paid lead-reply tool for businesses.

AI News Feed · 2026-10-20 21:18

Check for Me appears on restaurant pages in the Yelp app. Users enter their party size and phone number, and the AI agent calls the restaurant on their behalf. The agent then texts the results to the user, who can decide whether to go to that restaurant. Last year, Yelp introduced a voice solution for restaurants and service providers. The new feature addresses the consumer side of that equation. TechCrunch noted there is a possibility that a user’s agent could talk to a restaurant’s agent, and that agent-to-agent communication might break down the conversation.

Yelp also updated its AI assistant for restaurant and service discovery. Through a new OpenTable integration, users can book a restaurant without leaving the Yelp app. The assistant now remembers preferences mentioned in previous chats, and users can access chat history from the past 30 days, with full history to become available soon.

Users can ask the chatbot to set custom reminders, such as sending weekend activity suggestions every Friday. They can also build their own lists, starting with two lists, Been Here and Want to Go. The lists can be filtered by location, category and cuisine, reordered, annotated with notes and shared with others. Next month, Yelp will begin showing weekly personalized recommendations based on saved items and rankings. The company is working on converting collections to lists and giving the lists tab a new look later in the year, along with a maps view.

Yelp also introduced a paid product for businesses called Smart Lead Reply. The tool can reply to customers and engage with them to qualify a lead. Business owners will be charged $30 per month and can specify how an agent should handle a conversation with a customer. Meta is among other companies courting small businesses with AI offerings to handle inbound customer inquiries, TechCrunch reported.

Editor's Summary

Yelp’s Check for Me feature uses an AI voice agent to call restaurants for wait times, extending its consumer app into automated calling. The company also added OpenTable booking, assistant memory, custom lists and a $30-per-month Smart Lead Reply tool for businesses.