Pinterest is shrinking its workforce and office footprint as it leans harder into artificial intelligence. The San Francisco-based social media platform said in an SEC filing Tuesday that it will cut up to 15% of its staff and reduce office space, while shifting money and headcount toward "AI-focused roles" and "AI-powered products and capabilities," SFGate reports. With 4,666 full-time employees at the end of 2024, the move is expected to affect more than 600 people, with layoffs slated to wrap up by the end of September.
"We are making organizational changes to further deliver on our AI-forward strategy, which includes hiring AI-proficient talent," spokesperson Tessa Chen said, adding that departing workers will receive severance and benefits. Pinterest has already rolled out an AI shopping assistant and tools to make users' boards more tailored, even as some users complain on Reddit about AI-generated images crowding their feeds. The company is also caught up in speculation about AI's next big deal: roughly 34,000 people have signed a petition opposing a hypothetical 2026 takeover of Pinterest by ChatGPT maker OpenAI, an idea raised in a tech newsletter prediction list.
The company, based in San Francisco's South of Market area with additional offices across North America, already scaled back local office space in 2023 and hasn't said which locations will be hit this time. Investors weren't thrilled about what the company described as "transformation initiatives" in the filing, the AP reports. The company's stock fell more than 9% on Tuesday and another 3.6% on Wednesday.
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