Executives of the Year: Matt Madrigal

Pinterest chief product and technology officer Matt Madrigal said the company's "additive AI" approach, built on its decade-old proprietary Taste Graph, has helped Pinterest reach 640 million monthly active users and grow for 12 straight quarters. Madrigal, who joined Pinterest in 2024, said the company's investment in evaluations and safety foundations lets it move quickly while maintaining a high bar on safety and youth mental health, framing the goal as "time well spent, not total time spent.

Matt Madrigal, chief product and technology officer at Pinterest https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2024/6978812/pinterest-2/ , says most apps are built to be addictive. His focus is on what he calls additive AI https://www.fastcompany.com/91395779/pinterest-bets-on-additive-ai-as-it-reimagines-personalization —software that provides ideas, products, or plans that are useful in real life. “Our goal for our users is time well spent, not total time spent,” he says. The approach is built around Pinterest’s proprietary Taste Graph https://business.pinterest.com/blog/how-gen-z-is-taking-back-their-taste-from-ai/ , a decade of data about what people like that provides the foundation for its AI systems. Search for a fire pit, and you may also see chairs and party ideas. “If a traditional search engine did this, you would think it was broken,” he says. “But for Pinterest, it’s very logical, because it’s bringing ideas and inspiration together.” It seems to be working: Pinterest has 640 million https://business.pinterest.com/en-gb/audience/ monthly active users and has grown for 12 straight quarters. That growth proves that making safety a key priority doesn’t mean slowing down, says Madrigal, who joined the company in 2024. “I think we've invested in the right evaluations , the right foundation that allows us to move very quickly while keeping, frankly, a high bar when it comes to safety and youth mental health.” “How many meetings do you have each day?” TIME Executives of the Year on their daily responsibilities.