Meta globally launched an AI agent for businesses across WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger that can answer customer questions, make product recommendations, book appointments, and close sales, with future capabilities like market research and calendar management planned. Meta called it “AI that lets every business show up for every customer as if they had an infinite team behind them.”
Meta says that more than one million businesses are already using a Meta Business Agent on WhatsApp and Messenger to respond to customers, and now the tools are available to all businesses globally, as well as on Instagram for the first time. Businesses will initially be able to access the tool for free, but Meta plans to charge a subscription fee for access in the coming months.
Alongside the Business Agent offering, the company is launching a broader “Business Agent Platform” that enables companies to build their own custom AI agents that help them manage their operations elsewhere. The platform connects to hundreds of systems like Shopify, Zendesk, and Shopee where its agents can be deployed, while providing enterprise businesses with deeper controls, guardrails, and measurement options.
Meta's head of product Naomi Gleit told Reuters:
“We actually want to take actions now. We actually want it to be able to complete the payment, to process the booking, to place the order… This is definitely an enterprise play. The number one thing I hear, especially from small businesses, is ‘I just want to go to one place that can do all the things.'”
Meta will spend as much as $145B this year on AI infrastructure, and its new Business Agents are a way to help the company recoup its investment. Time will tell if it will pay off as well as its investment in the metaverse.
