New Delhi: Pinterest has announced a series of AI-focused updates for advertisers and shoppers, as technology companies increasingly adapt their products to changing consumer behaviour around search, discovery and purchasing.
The new offerings include Business Assistant, an AI-powered tool for advertisers, Pinterest Model Context Protocol (MCP), expanded AI capabilities within Pinterest Performance+ creative, and a new experimental shopping application called Ask Pinterest.
According to Pinterest, the updates are designed to support a shift from traditional keyword-based search towards more conversational and AI-assisted discovery experiences.
“The future of discovery won’t be driven by keywords alone. It will be shaped by context, taste, and trusted recommendations,” said Lee Brown, Chief Business Officer, Pinterest.
“Pinterest has a unique advantage because people come to our platform to plan, curate and take action on what they want to do next. We’re building AI experiences and infrastructure that tap into those signals in more useful and relevant ways.”
Business Assistant, currently available in a closed beta programme in the United States, has been integrated into Pinterest’s Ads Manager and mobile platform. The tool combines advertiser data with Pinterest platform insights to provide recommendations related to trends, campaign performance and optimisation opportunities.
Pinterest has also introduced Pinterest MCP, based on the Model Context Protocol standard, which enables integration between Pinterest data and AI-powered marketing tools used by advertisers and agencies.
The protocol provides access to campaign, analytics and keyword data and is being developed with partners including PMG, Pacvue, Dentsu, Havas, Innovid by Mediaocean and Omnicom’s Jump450.
Commenting on the development, Chris Ivey, President of Jump 450, said, “Pinterest MCP helps us integrate Pinterest directly into the workflows our teams are already building, making it easier to analyse performance, uncover insights and act on opportunities without switching tools. What makes Pinterest especially compelling is the strength of its intent signals. People come to Pinterest to plan what they want to do next, creating valuable context that helps marketers make smarter decisions.”
The company has also expanded Pinterest Performance+ creative with a new AI model that selects the most relevant creative variation for individual ad impressions. Pinterest said internal testing showed a 7.5% increase in click volume compared with its previous model. The feature is now available globally.
In addition, Pinterest is launching Ask Pinterest, a limited-access experimental application in the United States that will be used to test conversational and visual-first shopping experiences powered by AI. The app uses Pinterest’s data on user interests, preferences and intent to provide personalised recommendations and support more complex shopping decisions.
Pinterest said insights gathered from the experimental platform could inform future AI-powered features within its main application.
