Pinterest launches a new experimental AI shopping app called 'Ask Pinterest' that lets people ask questions in natural language to discover products and get personalized recommendations, as the company explores how conversational AI could reshape shopping experiences.

What happened: Pinterest introduced 'Ask Pinterest', a standalone experimental app that uses the company's internal 'Taste Graph' (its data mapping people to their interests) to power a chatbot-like interface for product discovery. The company also announced AI tools for advertisers, including a new AI assistant in Ads Manager (in beta in the U.S.), a Performance+ creative model to help pick better-performing ads, and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) infrastructure layer for campaign management.

Why it matters: AI chatbots are increasingly competing with traditional search engines for shopping attention—Google, ChatGPT, Meta, and Shopify have all experimented with AI-powered shopping. By building Ask Pinterest as a standalone app rather than licensing its data to other services, Pinterest can test conversational AI without disrupting its main app, while retaining the ability to eventually bring successful features back to the flagship platform. Pinterest's Chief Business Officer noted that discovery is shifting from 'keywords alone' to 'context, taste, and trusted recommendations'—areas where Pinterest believes it has an advantage.

What to watch: Ask Pinterest will initially be available in limited access. The app is designed to handle complex or multi-step queries (such as planning a dinner party or furnishing a room over time) and can leverage users' own saved Pins and Boards to personalize answers. Results from the experiment will inform how Pinterest builds more AI-powered experiences for its main app.