Pinterest CEO Emphasizes Open Source AI for Cost Efficiency
During a recent earnings call, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready underscored the potential of open source artificial intelligence (AI) models in reducing costs as the company broadens its visual AI applications. The platform, known for its role in consumer shopping journeys, utilizes AI to enhance features such as personalized recommendations, multimodal search experiences that merge text and images, and targeted advertising. Most notably, Pinterest recently launched its AI-powered Pinterest Assistant to assist users in product discovery.
Investors raised questions regarding Pinterest’s prospects in the realm of agentic commerce—AI systems that autonomously act on behalf of users. Given the evolving AI landscape, there is growing interest in how these developments may affect Pinterest’s financial performance and growth trajectory. The urgency of these inquiries increased following the company’s prediction of a weaker-than-expected holiday shopping season. Factors such as tariffs imposed during the presidency of Donald Trump have adversely affected the home furnishings sector, leading Pinterest to forecast fourth-quarter revenues between $1.31 billion and $1.34 billion. This outlook fell short of analysts’ average estimate of $1.34 billion, resulting in a significant stock decline of over 21% on October 11, 2023.
Despite these immediate revenue concerns, Ready expressed optimism regarding the potential of AI and large language models (LLMs) to enhance operational efficiency without substantially increasing costs. He noted that Pinterest regularly evaluates off-the-shelf models alongside open-source options, reporting promising early results.
“One of the really, really interesting things that we’re seeing is that we are just getting tremendous performance from open source models specifically for Pinterest use cases on visual AI,” Ready stated during the earnings call. He emphasized that early testing revealed substantial cost reductions while maintaining competitive performance levels when utilizing fine-tuned open source models compared to leading proprietary models.
The CEO indicated that Pinterest plans to increasingly adopt open-source models for various applications, which could lead to significant cost savings.
AI Innovations and User Experience
Ready further elaborated on how Pinterest aims to leverage AI to enhance user experience, particularly in the area of agentic shopping. The company already facilitates “push-button type buying” through a partnership with Amazon, and it is assessing whether users desire AI to automate this process for them.
In addition to these features, Pinterest is focusing on its unique advantage of guiding users through the shopping experience. Ready highlighted the role of Pinterest Assistant, an AI companion designed to engage users in discussions about their preferences and provide personalized recommendations. The assistant learns from user interactions—such as boards, collages, and saved items—tailoring its advice based on comparisons with individuals who share similar tastes.
As part of its ongoing innovations, Pinterest is also introducing AI-curated personalized boards, which combine expert human curation with AI technology. Ready expressed confidence in the value these advancements bring to users, alongside the company’s efforts to align user satisfaction with monetization strategies while effectively controlling costs.
Pinterest’s strategic focus on open-source AI models and user-centered enhancements positions the company to navigate the challenges of a fluctuating market while exploring new avenues for growth and innovation.
