2 kinds of Search Intents | Craig Saldanha, CPO at Yelp #productcon
About Craig Saldanha
Craig Saldanha, Chief Product Officer at Yelp, has discussed the company's approach to artificial intelligence and user trust in several recent appearances. In December 2024, he described two categories of search intent on the platform: objective queries, such as business hours, which he said large language models can answer effectively, and subjective queries, such as whether a restaurant is romantic, which he said require opinion rather than fact. Saldanha stated that for subjective searches, Yelp uses AI to find the best answer but then connects users to a specific human review rather than providing an AI-generated response, adding that when done well it can "feel like finding a needle in a haystack." He also outlined three reasons he believes consumers trust Yelp: the breadth and depth of its content accumulated over 20 years, the authenticity of reviews from actual human beings, and the ability for users to make meaningful connections with other users or service professionals. Saldanha cautioned that for user-generated content platforms, it is important to understand where trust comes from, saying AI can elevate trust if used correctly but can "very quickly erode that consumer trust" if used incorrectly. In a September 2024 podcast appearance, Saldanha described his mental model for Yelp as focusing on consumer trust, making the experience engaging, and elevating services by removing friction. He stated that the company optimizes for connections between local businesses and consumershol, and that its planning process involves both top-down goals from leadership and bottom-up goals from teams based on consumer and business feedback. Saldanha also noted that Yelp has a product ops team that reconciles dependencies across teamshol. In September 2023, he received the Tepper Recent Masters Alumni Achievement Award from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, where he credited his career success to the support of fellow Tepper alumni, including mentors who helped him with presentations and friends who moved into his home to care for his newborn while he moved abroad for a career opportunity.