Pinterest says it sees more searches than ChatGPT despite disappointing earnings

After a disappointing fourth-quarter earnings report, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready attempted to draw a favorable comparison between the digital pinboarding site and the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

To highlight Pinterest’s potential as a unique search destination, Ready claimed the platform sees higher search volume than ChatGPT. Citing third-party data, he noted that ChatGPT processes 75 billion searches per month, while Pinterest handles 80 billion searches and generates 1.7 billion monthly clicks.

“That makes us one of the largest search destinations in the world. And importantly, more than half of those searches are commercial in nature, compared to, I think . . . approximately 2% [of ChatGPT searches],” Ready added.

In the fourth quarter, Pinterest missed expectations on both revenue and earnings per share. It reported $1.32 billion in revenue against $1.33 billion expected, and earnings per share of 67 cents compared to the projected 69 cents. The company also forecast first-quarter 2026 sales between $951 million and $971 million, below the $980 million consensus.

The company attributed the shortfall to larger advertisers reducing spending, especially in Europe, and a new furniture tariff implemented in October that disrupted the home category. It warned that these trends could worsen in the first quarter.

Surprisingly, Pinterest missed on earnings despite a user base growing faster than anticipated. Monthly active users rose 12% year-over-year to 619 million, while Wall Street had forecast 613 million.

Shares fell 20% in after-hours trading.

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Pinterest has long struggled to convert its high usage into advertising revenue, since users often visit the platform to plan and dream, not to shop and buy. That challenge could intensify in the AI era, especially if advertisers shift budgets to platforms where purchase intent is more obvious—such as chatbot queries requesting product recommendations.

When asked how Pinterest would navigate the shift toward AI-powered shopping, Ready pointed to the company’s visual search, discovery, and personalization features, which he said would direct users to relevant products when they open the app.

“We’re helping them complete those commercial journeys without having to type in a single prompt,” he said, also noting that Pinterest had benefited from a smoother checkout process through its partnership with Amazon. He said customers didn’t yet seem ready to let an AI make a purchase on their behalf, but added that Pinterest would be prepared if that time came.

“That’ll actually be one of the easiest parts of the commercial journey to solve,” he claimed.