Meta’s AI agent for WhatsApp Business is now available globally

For many years, WhatsApp has served as a communication layer for businesses of all sizes around the world. Meta is now working to integrate AI into that layer in an effort to turn WhatsApp into a viable part of workflow software for SMBs.

The company said on Wednesday that it will make its customer support AI bot, now known as Meta Business Agent, available globally within WhatsApp. The launch comes as Meta has spent nearly two years testing AI agents in WhatsApp Business to support customers in countries such as India and Mexico.

An AI agent can answer customer questions, recommend products, book appointments, qualify sales leads, and redirect inquiries to a person if necessary, Meta said. The company is also working on making the bot available within Instagram DMs.

Meta said it is testing a way for agents to provide daily summaries of conversations that happened overnight, providing insights. The company is testing this feature with select accounts on WhatsApp Business, Instagram Pro, Messenger, and Meta Business Suite.

The company said it is adding capabilities such as conducting market research, highlighting product features, managing user calendars, and connecting with tools to extract competitive insights.

Meta said it is also working on enabling the agent to show businesses when searching for one or sharing contact details in chat. It is building a platform to let large organizations create custom agents that can connect to systems like Shopify, Zendesk and Shopee.

Meta plans to charge businesses for using this AI agent by including it in some WhatsApp Business Premium subscription tiers. The company noted that large companies will pay the agent based on the number of tokens they use.

This is crucial for WhatsApp, which has relied on companies paying for messaging and click-through ads on WhatsApp.