Pinterest has introduced 'Ask Pinterest,' an experimental AI-driven shopping app designed to provide personalized product advice and inspiration through a chatbot-style interface. This new app aims to extend Pinterest’s visual discovery capabilities into conversational search and assist users with complex queries beyond traditional search functions.
- Ask Pinterest enables multi-step, natural language shopping interactions.
- AI tools for advertisers include a Performance+ creative model and campaign management protocols.
- App leverages Pinterest’s data to offer personalized recommendations using saved user content.
What happened
Pinterest unveiled 'Ask Pinterest,' an experimental standalone app that introduces a conversational AI experience for shopping and discovery. The app allows users to interact via natural language, asking complex or multi-step questions that traditional Pinterest search does not support. This marks a strategic step to explore AI-driven visual recommendations beyond the main app.
Alongside this launch, Pinterest revealed additional AI initiatives targeted at marketers, including an AI assistant tool in Ads Manager and a new AI model called Performance+ creative for optimizing ad performance. Pinterest also announced the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to enable standardized campaign management across third-party AI tools.
Why it matters
'Ask Pinterest' represents a forward-looking effort to rethink how consumers discover products in a rapidly evolving digital landscape where conversational AI increasingly challenges traditional search engines. By leveraging its proprietary Taste Graph and integrating users’ saved content, Pinterest aims to offer more context-aware and personalized shopping assistance.
This approach underscores Pinterest’s belief that future discovery will prioritize context, taste, and trusted recommendations over simple keyword searches. The new app also allows Pinterest to experiment with AI innovations without disrupting the core user experience of its flagship platform, positioning it competitively amid AI advancements from companies like Google, Meta, and Shopify.
What to watch next
Pinterest intends to test the 'Ask Pinterest' app’s impact on user engagement and satisfaction through limited access initially. The company plans to use insights gained from this conversational AI experience to enhance future AI features within its main app, broadening the scope of personalized product discovery based on evolving user contexts and preferences.
In marketing technology, the rollout of AI-powered advertising tools like Performance+ creative and the MCP infrastructure will be critical to watch. These tools aim to improve campaign effectiveness and simplify AI integration across platforms, potentially reshaping how advertisers leverage AI for targeted marketing on Pinterest globally.