Pinterest Now Lets BIPOC Users Search For Content By Hair Pattern
Image via Pinterest
On Wednesday, Pinterest announced a new tool that allows users to filter through hair-related search results to find content most relevant to them.
Aimed at the platform’s community of Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color (BIPOC), the AI is trained to detect visual hair patterns in images and return search results according to those patterns.
The aim, says Annie Ta, Head of the Inclusive Product team, is “to help everyone feel like Pinterest is a place for them.”
Image via Pinterest
“As a visual discovery platform, we have an opportunity and responsibility to do a better job of increasing representation in the products we build,” she explains in the launch announcement.
“We hope we’re able to use technology for good and make it easier for people, no matter who they are, to find hair inspiration for them on Pinterest.”
Categories include Protective, Coily, Curly, Wavy, Straight, and Shaved/Bald. Queries for broader hair terms such as “summer hairstyles” or “short hair” can then be narrowed down by selecting one of the hair patterns, ensuring that users would have a much easier time finding style inspiration most relevant to them.
Pinterest’s Inclusive Product team was formed to ensure fairness in AI. This innovative new tool was created in conjunction with the team, Pinterest users, and BIPOC creators. It has seen successes in a body-inclusive ad policy and a similar AI in sorting beauty product search results by skin tone.
As of Wednesday, hair pattern search was rolled out on the platform, with users who searched hair-related terms being greeted with a popup box explaining the new feature.
This is currently available to users in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. More international regions are expected soon.
[via Gizmodo, images via Pinterest]
Also check out these recent news
