American social media company Pinterest will be reducing its headcount by around 15% as it looks to cut costs, with its office spaces also reportedly being questioned, as an internal strategy shift towards artificial intelligence (AI) tools comes into play.
Although the company has not confirmed the exact number of workers it expects to make redundant, current estimations claim 700-800 roles will be lost, based on previous headcount figures from 2024 and 2025.
“Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence is being blamed for the job losses, but not quite in the way the industry may expect, as human jobs aren’t explicitly being replaced by AI bots. Rather than blaming AI for reducing the number of staff it needs, Pinterest says it will be moving staff into AI-focused roles and teams, and prioritising its own AI-powered tools. The third and final factor cited by Pinterest in a SEC filing was accelerating the transformation of its sales and go-to-market approach,” reported Techradar Pro on the development.
Last quarter, the company made a 17% year-over-year increase in revenue with CEO Bill Ready noting Pinterest’s focus on visual search, which allowed the social media company to become an “AI-powered shopping assistant for 600 million consumers.”
A company spokesperson told The Verge that hiring artificial intelligence-proficient talent will be a priority going forward. The venture also said in a SEC filing, “the company plans to reinvest in key development areas and strategic opportunities.”
“We are making organisational changes to further deliver on our AI-forward strategy, which includes hiring AI-proficient talent. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to say goodbye to some of our team members. We are grateful for their service and supporting them with separation packages and benefits,” said Pinterest spokesperson Tessa Chen.
Pinterest expects the workforce adjustments, set to be complete by the end of September 2026, to have cost between USD 35 million and USD 45 million. The company’s share prices dropped around 9-10% as the news emerged.