Pinterest launches Ask Pinterest: experimental AI shopping app

Pinterest announced on June 18 a new experimental app called "Ask Pinterest," a limited-access online application that brings a conversational, chatbot-style shopping experience to the company’s visual discovery engine. The company also unveiled advertiser-focused AI updates, including the Pinterest Model Context Protocol (MCP), an Ads Manager AI assistant in beta in the U.S., and a global ad model called Performance+ creative.

What is Ask Pinterest and how does it work?

Ask Pinterest is a standalone, limited-access online app that provides a conversational interface for shopping and product discovery, designed to handle more complex or multi-step queries than traditional Pinterest search. The app leverages Pinterest’s Taste Graph and can use a user’s saved Pins and Boards to personalize answers and retain context across sessions, according to the company.

The experience aims to expand Pinterest’s visual discovery beyond the flagship app into a natural-language interaction where consumers ask questions and receive tailored recommendations. By keeping the experiment separate from the main app, the company said it can test features without disrupting the existing Pinterest experience.

What else did Pinterest announce for advertisers?

Pinterest introduced several AI tools aimed at marketers: MCP, an infrastructure layer called Pinterest Model Context Protocol for advertisers; an AI assistant in Ads Manager, currently in beta in the U.S.; and a new global AI model named Performance+ creative to help advertisers pick between different ad creatives. MCP is intended to let advertisers manage and monitor campaigns using third-party agentic tools in a standardized way.

The Performance+ creative model will assist advertisers in selecting which creative is likely to perform best each time an ad is shown. The Ads Manager assistant remains in beta in the United States, while Performance+ creative was rolled out globally, per the company announcement.

How does this fit into the wider AI shopping trend?

AI chatbots and agentic shopping experiences are already competing with traditional search for shoppers, with companies like Google, ChatGPT, Meta, and Shopify experimenting in the space. Pinterest framed Ask Pinterest as a way to use its proprietary data — the Taste Graph and user-saved content — to power recommendations rather than licensing its product recommendations to other services.

Pinterest emphasized the role of context and taste in discovery. Pinterest’s Chief Business Officer, Lee Brown, said, "the future of discovery won’t be driven by keywords alone. It will be shaped by context, taste, and trusted recommendations." That argument underpins the company’s focus on using its internal data to train AI models and build ad tools optimized for the platform’s visual-first audience.

Why it matters

Ask Pinterest tests whether a specialized conversational layer built on a strong interest graph can outperform generic chat or search approaches for shopping and inspiration. Pinterest’s combination of the Taste Graph plus access to user-saved Pins gives it a distinct dataset for personalization, and the company is pairing that with advertiser tools such as MCP and Performance+ creative to monetize AI-driven discovery. The separate app approach also lets Pinterest experiment quickly without changing its flagship product.

What to watch

Look for signs that Ask Pinterest features move into the main Pinterest app, and for advertiser uptake of MCP and Performance+ creative at industry events. The announcement arrived ahead of the Cannes Lions festival, where adtech discussions are focused on how AI can serve advertisers; that gathering is a likely venue for further detail and partner activity.