Pinterest is adding another AI element, as it looks to keep up with evolving discovery behaviors, with a new “Pinterest Assistant” tool that will make it easier to search for products based on examples that you find.
As you can see in these images, the new Pinterest Assistant will be able to conduct searches in the app based on conversational + visual queries, where you select Pin images, then speak your search query directly into the app. So you can say something like “Hey Pinterest, can you show me shoes that would go with these pants?” based on your visual examples, and it’ll provide options from listed Pins in the app.
As explained by Pinterest:
“More than a typical chatbot, Pinterest Assistant enables users to chat, collaborate, discover, and shop all in one place by delivering creative, insightful and tailored visual search results. Simply, tap the mic icon and say what you’re looking for. Pinterest Assistant will audibly respond with visual results personalized to you.”
So it’s an AI assistant, just like ChatGPT and Meta AI and Grok on X, but this variation is custom-built for Pinterest product searches. Which means that it’s designed to facilitate fashion and home décor searches, though theoretically, you could ask it anything, and it’ll try to find relevant Pin matches based on your query.
Which Pinterest is framing as a much different approach to the AI chatbot model that we all now know, particularly because Pinterest’s version is “built primarily on an AI visual language model, not a typical text model.”
Which would mean that it’s trying to match words to visuals, as opposed to text and data from across the web? So the more descriptive you can get, in terms of specific visual elements, the better, probably.
Pinterest says that the system is able to produce accurate results based on real-time, “complex conversational descriptors” which will then provide accurate and helpful recommendations and shoppable products on Pinterest.
Also, Pinterest says that the chatbot “expands multimodal search by enabling users to go beyond a simple text search and ask open-ended questions.”
So you can ask it “What do you think?” about your outfit choice, and it’ll be able to tell you that it’s cool or that you suck. Just what you wanted from an AI bot.
Jokes aside (which are a response to the influx of AI in every aspect of every app), it could be a handy complement to your discovery process, giving you a visual helper that can track down relevant products based on what you see before you. And because it is focused on visual inputs, there’ll be a range of ways that you can customize and build upon your queries, in order to find items that perfectly match your preferences and needs.
The idea, according to Pinterest, is that it will help you find relevant items when you’re not sure what matches or fits with a certain style.
The true value, however, will be in the testing, and you won’t know how well it will work for your needs until you try it.
Which you can from today, with Pinterest rolling out its new AI assistant rolling out in beta to U.S. users 18 and over, with wider availability planned “in the coming weeks and months.”
