Pinterest’s new AI tools for the discovery era: from ads to personalized shopping

As AI changes how people search, browse, and make decisions, the industry is moving beyond the traditional search-and-click model toward a more conversational and generative web. In this new environment, brands are competing not just for attention, but for recommendation, relevance and action.

Ahead of Cannes Lions, we are introducing new AI-powered tools built for this shift, including Business Assistant, Pinterest Model Context Protocol (MCP) and new Pinterest Performance+ creative capabilities.

We're also rolling out Ask Pinterest, a limited access app that will allow us to experiment with the next generation of AI-powered shopping experiences and learn quickly from our users.

"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 brings AI-powered guidance to advertisers

Pinterest is building AI into advertiser workflows with Business Assistant, an AI collaborator in Ads Manager and mobile, currently in a closed beta in the US. It combines a deep understanding of an advertiser's business with Pinterest's platform insights to help advertisers drive the best performance, building on the approach pioneered by Pinterest Assistant.

Like Pinterest, Business Assistant is visual. It doesn't answer with walls of text, but demonstrates breakout Trends in graphs and shows top Pins to promote. For example, if "clean beauty routine" searches are up 42% one week and an advertiser wants to join in, Business Assistant can represent how user interest grew, alongside real Pins leading the Trend to inspire their ads.

We've also brought Business Assistant to mobile, so advertisers get proactive notifications about Trends, performance status and optimization opportunities.