Pinterest debuts experimental AI shopping app Ask Pinterest

Pinterest unveiled on Wednesday an experimental app named Ask Pinterest, designed to explore a conversational shopping and product discovery experience that may later integrate into the main Pinterest platform. The company also announced other AI initiatives, including the Pinterest Model Context Protocol (MCP) for advertisers managing campaigns on its platform, along with additional AI-powered advertising tools.

This announcement arrives just before the adtech industry's annual Cannes Lions event, which this year centers on how AI can meet the needs of advertisers and marketers.

The Ask Pinterest web application provides the company with another avenue to leverage its Taste Graph — an internal data system that maps individuals to their interests and aesthetic preferences. The company noted that it will initially be available in limited access.

This AI-powered experience aims to extend Pinterest's signature visual discovery beyond the main app into a conversational, chatbot-like interface where users can ask questions in natural language to receive more personalized recommendations and inspiration.

This launch also comes as AI chatbots increasingly compete with traditional search engines for consumer attention. Google has already deployed AI to assist online shoppers with product discovery, price tracking, and checkout. Similarly, ChatGPT has experimented with agentic shopping, alongside Meta, Shopify, and others.

Instead of becoming a product recommendation source that other AI services could use through licensing, Pinterest has primarily focused on using its own data to train AI models and drive its AI products.

Image credit: Pinterest

Additionally, by making Ask Pinterest a standalone app, the company can experiment with the technology without disrupting the core Pinterest experience.

The company explains that Ask Pinterest can handle more complex or multi-step queries that don't fit a traditional Pinterest search. For example, users could ask the app for help planning a dinner party or gradually furnishing a room. Pinterest says the idea is to test and explore how AI can better support shopping experiences while maintaining user context across sessions.

Ask Pinterest can also use users' saved Pins and Boards to personalize its responses.

Over time, these insights will help Pinterest build more AI-powered experiences for its flagship app, the company believes.

Image credit: Pinterest

Pinterest's new app was announced alongside updates for marketers, including the introduction of an AI assistant (still in beta) within its Ads Manager in the United States.

A new AI model called Performance+ creative was also launched globally to help advertisers choose among different ad creatives to identify the one most likely to perform best each time an ad is shown. Additionally, the MCP infrastructure layer announced by Pinterest will enable advertisers to manage and monitor their campaigns using other third-party agentic tools in a standardized manner.

In announcing the news, Pinterest's Chief Business Officer, Lee Brown, highlighted the evolving nature of web search, noting that 'the future of discovery won't be driven by keywords alone. It will be shaped by context, taste, and trusted recommendations' — an area where Pinterest believes it has a 'unique advantage,' Brown said.