Yellowfin BI 9.18 adds auditable conversational analytics

Yellowfin on August 13 released version 9.18 of its BI platform, adding a single conversational analytics interface that lets users query data in plain language and verify each step of the AI-driven analysis. The update is aimed at organizations that want faster insights without giving up governance, auditability or control over AI usage.

Why it matters: - Yellowfin BI 9.18 targets a major barrier to enterprise AI analytics: users want natural-language insights, but they also need reports they can audit and trust. - The release is designed for organizations and ISVs that need AI-assisted analysis to fit existing governance, semantic layer and compliance rules. - The update also gives teams a way to manage AI costs by controlling how many iterations the system performs during deeper analysis.

What happened: - Yellowfin announced general availability of Yellowfin BI 9.18 on August 13, 2026. - The release adds a single interface called Conversational Analytics for asking questions in natural language. - Users can ask questions such as, “Show me the monthly sales data for Texas for the last three quarters,” then choose either a single report or an interactive data Story. - Users can continue the conversation with follow-up questions while keeping full chat history and context retention. - Yellowfin BI 9.18 is available now. - Full release notes and upgrade guidance are available here. - Users can also download a trial or schedule a live demo.

The details: - Yellowfin says the platform works with AI tools organizations already use, including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. - The release keeps governance rules in place while AI generates reports and insights. - The platform supports background processing for deeper analysis. - Users can control token usage in the conversational workflow. - Users can also control how their data is used by AI to create reports and dashboards. - The company says the system can generate both single reports and complex data stories. - Yellowfin BI 9.18 is built to align with data governance and semantic layer rules.

Between the lines: - Yellowfin is positioning AI analytics around auditability, not just automation. - That approach is aimed at reducing the risk of AI hallucinations in executive reporting. - Brad Scarff, chief technology officer at Yellowfin, said the goal is to produce reports that a CEO or CFO would be comfortable signing their name to. - Ethan Brown, general manager at Yellowfin, said many of the new features came from customer and partner conversations about using AI within existing workflows, especially in highly regulated industries.

What's next: - Yellowfin will likely lean on the release to push more customers toward conversational AI workflows that still fit enterprise controls. - The company is directing users to trial downloads, live demos and the new release notes for adoption and upgrade planning. - Yellowfin says the platform will continue evolving based on customer and partner feedback around trustworthy AI in analytics.

The bottom line: - Yellowfin BI 9.18 tries to make AI analytics useful for enterprise buyers by pairing plain-language querying with full auditability and governance.