Pinterest Tests AI Shopping App ‘Ask Pinterest’

SAN FRANCISCO: Pinterest, launched a new experimental app called Ask Pinterest that makes online shopping and product discovery more interactive and conversational. Acting as a chatbot of sorts, the app lets users ask full-fledged questions in simple language and receive personalized shopping suggestions in return.

Pinterest says the goal behind it all is to improve how people discover products. The app builds on the company’s existing strength in visual search, adding a more natural, conversation style experience to it.

The system uses Pinterest’s ‘Taste Graph’, which connects users to their interests, style preferences, and saved content. This helps the AI offer suggestions that feel more personal and relevant. Users can also get results based on their own activity. The app looks at saved Pins and Boards to better understand preferences and suggest ideas that match the user’s style.

Unlike traditional searches, Ask Pinterest is designed for multi-step queries. For example, a user may start by asking for, say, outfit ideas, then refine suggestions over time with follow-up questions. This makes the experience more interactive compared to standard product searches, where users usually need to start over with each new query.

Pinterest has launched the tool as a standalone app for now. The company says this allows them to test the feature without impacting the main Pinterest platform in any way. The experiment comes at a time when many tech companies are exploring AI-driven shopping tools. Services from Google, OpenAI, Meta, and Shopify are also moving towards such conversational shopping experiences.

The company also added that it wishes to stand out by focusing on taste and content, instead of just mere keywords. As per them, future product discovery would depend more on personal style and preferences.

The launch, however, is limited at present. Pinterest first plans to study how people use the app and may later bring similar features to its main platform. Alongside the new app, Pinterest also announced updates for advertisers. These include new AI tools that help brands create better ads and manage campaigns more effectively.

As AI continues to transform how people search and shop online, Pinterest is, all in all, positioning itself to stay competitive in the fast‑growing market for AI‑powered discovery tools.