The news: Pinterest announced AI-powered updates for its boards feature on Monday, with a new look and upgrades aimed at offering users a more personalized and relevant experience.

• The first update is a “make it yours” tab that recommends specific products and content for fashion and home decor boards, based on a user’s saved Pins.
• Pinterest is also introducing a “more ideas” section that offers recommended related Pins for all board categories.
• An “all saves” tab will offer a simple way to find all of a user’s previously saved pins.
• Pinterest is experimenting with a “styled for you” feature in the US and Canada. This test uses AI-powered collages created from users’ fashion Pins, and allows users to mix-and-match apparel and accessories to create shoppable outfits based on their preferences.
• The platform is also testing a “boards made for you” feature that creates personalized boards using a combination of editorial insights and AI-powered recommendations. These boards are delivered to users’ inboxes and feeds to promote shoppable content.

Pinterest’s AI strategy: Pinterest is continuing investment in AI to drive user engagement and advertiser interest.

• Pinterest has developed AI-driven ad tools and shopping features that drove a 16% YoY revenue increase in Q1, a 17% increase in Q2, and expectations of continued growth. These tools focus on helping advertisers with automation and audience segmentation, along with refining AI-driven recommendations to drive social commerce and boost engagement.
• Pinterest’s AI innovations also include genAI tools like auto-collages and Performance+, designed to help advertisers scale creative outputs. Pinterest has previously claimed that users saved AI-generated collages twice as often as standard Pins.

But Pinterest’s AI strategy is twofold: Invest in behind-the-scenes AI tools to make content more relevant to users and effective for advertisers while putting control over what AI content users see in users’ hands. The company recently announced a new effort to give users control over how much genAI content they see in specific categories to address a deluge of “AI slop” on the platform’s interface. The strategy allows Pinterest to leverage AI for its performance capabilities while avoiding allegations of a poor user experience.

Stacking up to competition: Pinterest is following a trend of smaller social platforms investing in AI to gain an edge in a competitive landscape, especially as larger rivals like Meta make strides in AI. Reddit is going all-in on AI through AI-powered targeting features like Reddit Insights, while Snapchat gives advertisers an AI-powered cost-per-acquisition bidding tool and ad formats like Sponsored AI lenses. Pinterest’s success will depend on how well its new AI-powered features perform compared with what competitors are already offering.

What it means for marketers: With Pinterest now capable of picking up more subtle signals about user interests, including their aesthetics and preferred boards, advertisers can now better appear in contexts that are more aligned with user mindsets.

Brands can lean into specific aesthetics to match users’ content preferences and ensure ads feel naturally integrated into recommended content. Pinterest’s AI focus is likely to make it a more effective and actionable platform for users and advertisers.