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Tuesday 31 OcTOber 2017 technology
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Insider Q&A: Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann talks AI, rivals

By BARBARA ORTUTAY So they weren’t what you doing, helping them kind
AP Technology Writer think about stereotypical of close the loop. That’s
NEW YORK (AP) — Pinterest tech early adopters. pretty different from a
often gets lumped in with The last couple of years lot of services where you
social media apps like we have grown really are there to do one thing,
Instagram, Snapchat or fast outside of the U.S. in maybe be entertained or
Facebook, but people places like Western Europe, talk to your friends or watch
don’t use it to meet new Japan and Brazil. And ... a show, and advertisers
people or to keep in touch with that growth we see just say, “Hey, now that
with old classmates. It’s more and more diversity in we have your attention,
designed more to let you how people are using the we’ll use that attention for
get in touch with your service. something else.”
own interests, tastes and Q: Can you talk about Q: Are you worried about
hobbies. the ways Pinterest makes larger competitors, like
“There other people also money and any new plans? Amazon with its recent
using it, but the goal is not A: The way we make Spark feature, copying
to make friends with them money is advertising. And what you are doing?
or talk with them,” says Ben This photo provided by Pinterest shows company co-founder the reason that advertising A: What I always tell our
Silbermann, the company’s and CEO Ben Silbermann. has always made sense to team is that a lot of those
CEO and co-founder. “It’s Associated Press us as the right model is that companies are building the
really just to get ideas for with Lens where you can around you. people come to Pinterest features that we released
your life.” The online visual take a photo or screenshot Q: You just hit 200 million to get ideas. Ideas for their months or years ago. We
discovery service launched of something and find it on monthly users. Can you talk home or ideas for clothes. need to keep focusing
in 2010. Still privately held, Pinterest. What are some of about the demographics And what they really want on building the next set of
Pinterest is valued at more the challenges of AI? of your user base now vs. eventually, after they get things that would make
than $12 billion based on its A: We use machine learning, when you started out? inspiration, is to figure out, our users really happy and
latest funding round. It has or AI, in two big ways. One A: A lot of our early users “where can I buy that?” really love this service. There
200 million monthly users. is to help you get personal were in the U.S., a lot of or “where can I make that will always be competitors
Silbermann spoke to The recommendations that them were women and part of my life?” that are copying what
Associated Press about align with your taste. And a lot of them were in the That’s what some of have already built and
new technologies and the challenge there is Midwest where I grew up. our best advertisers are have shown is working.q
competition. The interview that a lot of times people
has been edited for length know what they like It lives! This nightmare machine
and clarity. when they see it but they
Q: What kinds of things do might not know how to
you see people pinning communicate that in writes bone-chilling tales
and looking at that you words. So we work really
weren’t seeing a year ago? hard to try to understand By MATT O’BRIEN
A: Every day we are your taste even if you can’t AP Technology Writer
surprised (by) what users quite describe it and show Don’t throw away your
think to use Pinterest for. you things that are similar. Stephen King collection
New things that are getting And the other one is an just yet. But the Master of
really popular are things area we call computer the Macabre might want
like tattoos. We see a lot of vision. We really think that to keep an eye out be-
enthusiasts, car enthusiasts, in the future the camera hind him, because scien-
woodworking enthusiasts, is going to be the next tists have just unleashed a
who are using Pinterest to keyboard. It’s going to be nightmare machine on a
get ideas for that. a fundamental way that mission to churn out its own
Q: You are using AI, like you learn about the world bone-chilling tales.
MIT researchers have ap-
plied the electrodes and
brought to life a new fic-
tion-writing bot they call
Shelley — after “Franken- In this Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017 photo creators of a fiction-writing
‘chatbot,’ from the left, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
stein” author Mary Shelley. postdoctoral associate Pinar Yanardag, of Istanbul, Turkey,
To keep the bot busy — no MIT research scientist Manuel Cebrian, of Madrid, Spain, and
wandering the country- MIT associate professor Iyad Rahwan, of Aleppo, Syria, sit for a
side terrorizing villagers! — photograph in front of a graphic from the home page of the site
the team gave it a crash called “Shelley.”
course in the horror genre, Associated Press
forcing it to read 140,000 “She’s creating really in- has said it can take him
stories published by ama- teresting and weird stories “months and even years”
teur writers on a popular that have never really ex- to get a novel’s opening
online forum. isted in the horror genre,” paragraph right. Shelley
Now Shelley’s artificial neu- said Pinar Yanardag, a takes a couple of seconds
ral network is generating its postdoctoral researcher — and the results can be
own stories, posting open- at the MIT Media Lab. One a little awkward. “The doll
ing lines on Twitter, then strange tale, for instance, came at me with a sy-
taking turns with humans in involved a pregnant man ringe,” the bot posted on
collaborative storytelling. who woke up in a hospital. Twitter on Friday. “Its blood
COLD, CALCULATING HOR- King, the world’s most fa- shot out of its mouth, and it
ROR mous living horror writer, began to uncover itself. q