Yelp announced new AI-powered voice agents to help restaurants and service providers manage customer calls. These agents answer inquiries and add customers to waitlists.
AI-Powered Voice Agents by Yelp
Yelp Inc., based in San Francisco, introduced these voice agents to improve business communication. Craig Saldanha, Yelp’s Chief Product Officer, explained the technology’s benefits for busy professionals.
The AI agents use OpenAI’s Realtime API to handle calls from start to finish. They support tasks such as answering routine questions and connecting customers with businesses.
How the Voice Agents Work
The agents integrate easily with existing business data, like pronunciation guides, voice greetings, and call forwarding rules. Restaurants can link the AI to management software to send reservation details after a call.
Additional features include:
- Automatic spam filtering
- Call analytics
- Seamless transfer to human representatives for complex requests
- Call summaries, transcripts, and recordings after each interaction
These voice agents aim to reduce missed calls and convert more leads by handling customer interactions efficiently, especially when staff cannot answer calls promptly.
Significance and Industry Trends
This development reflects a growing trend of integrating AI to streamline customer service. By automating routine tasks, businesses can improve response times and customer satisfaction.
Craig Saldanha noted that while voice technology will become a commodity, Yelp’s edge lies in its rich data and AI’s smart handling of queries. For more on such AI innovations, see AI and AI voices.
The new agents are designed without complex setup or API integration requirements, simplifying adoption by various businesses. Yelp continues to evaluate advanced models to enhance accuracy and customer experience.
These AI-powered voice agents are aimed primarily at restaurants but extend to broader service providers, offering a practical tool for everyday business communications.
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