Pinterest Bets on AI Tools to Fend Off Chatbot Rivals

Pinterest is racing to add artificial intelligence tools to its app amid a slowing ad business and growing competition from AI chatbots, The Information reported Tuesday (Feb. 17).

The company is also working to increase user growth, revenue growth and advertisers’ return on spending on the scrapbooking app, according to the report.

Pinterest has faced challenges in measuring the effectiveness of its ads and encouraging users to check the app as often as they check other social media apps, the report said. There’s also concern that AI chatbots could draw away users who would otherwise use the app for things such as planning a wedding.

One thing the company has done is to improve its recommendation algorithms to suggest both ads and regular posts that are similar to items users are searching for. This helped improve advertisers’ return on spending by 10%, per the report.

Pinterest also began rolling out a voice-based chatbot in October 2025 and plans to expand it to more users in the coming months. The voice feature makes it easier for users to make longer, more specific inquiries, and it has accounted for a growing share of users’ commercial searches, or searches in which the user is looking to make a purchase, the report said.

The company is also working to filter out AI-generated content posted by users, because some users don’t want to see that form of content. Its latest model flags four times more AI-generated content than the previous version, per the report.

It was reported in January that Pinterest was laying off about 700 workers, or about 15% of its workforce, as it shifts resources to AI. The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the move was part of a restructuring plan that involves moving resources to AI-focused roles and teams and “prioritizing AI-powered products and capabilities.”

It was also reported in recent months that Pinterest is launching a shoppable TV partnership with streaming platform Roku, extending its performance advertising capabilities to connected TV (CTV) by acquiring CTV performance adverting platform tvScientific, and piloting a shoppable recipe experience with Walmart.

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