Pinterest still hasn't solved its AI problem

Pinterest still has an AI slop problem. And an AI content moderation problem. And an AI labeling problem.

At least, that's what users are reporting amid the company's continued commitment to turning the visual curation platform into an AI-powered social media site. In a report by 404 Media, users told the publication that Pinterest's automatic content moderation system, including a system that labels content as "AI modified," is consistently incorrectly flagging human-made images, particularly those featuring women, while actual AI slop only grows.

In addition, users say the site's tools to curb AI-generated content in feeds are failing to prevent AI images from appearing on user boards, and AI-powered account moderators are still banning accounts with little to no explanation.

"We publish clear guidelines on adult sexual content and nudity and use a combination of AI and human review for enforcement. We have an appeals process where a human reviews the content and reactivates it when we’ve made a mistake," said Pinterest in a statement to 404 Media.

This isn't anything new for many social media platforms leaning into AI, but it's particularly distressing for platform users who have pushed to keep the Pinterest experience the same. For years, the platform has come under fire for failing to curb AI-generated photos, videos, and ads, if not encouraging their existence on the site wholesale.

In March 2025, the company updated its privacy policy to elucidate its policy of feeding users' public pins into its machine learning models, including training efforts for Pinterest's base AI model, Pinterest Canvas. Pinterest faced further criticism in May, when users, already complaining about AI content-filled algorithms that were ruining the app experience, reported platform-wide account bans that many suspected were the result of a faulty AI content moderation system.

In response to the ongoing AI controversy, Pinterest added tools in October to filter out specific types of AI content from recommendations, though the company made it clear at the time that it wouldn't completely eradicate the issue.

Then, just last month, the company announced it would lay off hundreds of employees in yet another push toward AI, writing in an SEC filing that it would reprioritize "AI-powered products and capabilities" following the launch of its AI-powered shopping tool, Pinterest Assistant. The company has been exploring AI integration for nearly a decade.

Meanwhile, AI slop is proliferating across social media platforms, including brainrot YouTube Shorts, bots and Grok-generated images on X, and entirely AI-rendered influencers ripping videos from famous TikTok influencers.