Food

Yelp launches AI-generated videos to showcase restaurants

Ken Metral

29 Jul 2025 — 2 min read

Credit: Yelp, Inc.

Yelp is taking a major step into the AI content arena with the nationwide rollout of AI-generated videos that showcase restaurants, bars, and nightlife businesses across the U.S. These short, TikTok-style videos, now featured in Yelp’s iOS app, are designed to give users a richer visual and narrative experience by stitching together user-submitted photos, videos, and reviews — all powered by a mix of generative AI tools.

What Are AI-Stitched Yelp Videos?

These new vertical videos blend user-uploaded content with AI-generated voiceovers and captions. Using a combination of tools — including OpenAI’s large language models for writing scripts and descriptions, ElevenLabs for creating voice narration, and Amazon Transcribe for on-screen text — Yelp builds quick, visually engaging snapshots of local businesses. The videos cover aspects like the venue's atmosphere, popular dishes, and drink offerings.

Yelp Chief Product Officer Craig Saldanha says the company wants to create “as many videos as possible,” but they’re only generated for businesses with enough user-submitted content to tell a compelling story.

Personalized Feed, Not Personalized Videos

The videos appear in a vertically scrolling home feed similar to TikTok’s format. While the feed is personalized based on your preferences and activity, the videos themselves are not customized per user — there’s only one active AI-stitched video per business at any given time. Yelp plans to periodically refresh them as more user content is added.

If users or businesses find an AI video misleading or inappropriate, it can be reported directly through the app. Yelp also conducts large-scale audits of these videos to ensure quality and accuracy.

Limited Control for Users and Businesses

Currently, business owners cannot view or manage the videos Yelp creates about their establishments, and users can't opt out of having their uploaded media included in them. That means once you post a photo or video on Yelp, it could end up in one of these AI-stitched montages without direct notice or approval.

Part of a Bigger AI Strategy

This latest feature builds on Yelp’s broader AI efforts, including AI-generated review summaries and smart review filters introduced earlier. The company is increasingly leveraging AI to make its massive database of user content more engaging and accessible — with the goal of modernizing how people discover and explore local businesses.

For now, the AI-stitched videos are exclusive to the iOS app, with no word yet on when they might expand to Android or other platforms. But it’s clear Yelp sees this as a key part of its future — where algorithms help bring local experiences to life through short, dynamic storytelling.

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