Meta announced on June 3 the introduction of Meta Business Agent, an artificial intelligence tool designed to help businesses respond to customers as if they had a large support team. The company said the Business Agent can be set up within minutes or integrated into existing enterprise systems, with the aim of significantly increasing output.
According to Meta, more than one million businesses are already using a Meta Business Agent on WhatsApp and Messenger to provide round-the-clock responses. The company reported that there are over one billion active threads with businesses daily across WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. With this expansion, Meta is making its Business Agent available globally to businesses of all sizes. Businesses can deploy their agent quickly, allowing it to respond in local languages and adopt the business’s preferred tone.
The capabilities outlined for the Business Agent include answering business-specific questions, making product recommendations from catalogs, booking appointments and qualifying leads, letting staff step in when needed for support, and closing sales. Meta also announced that the service is expanding to Instagram. Activation is currently free; however, subscription-based offerings will be introduced in coming months for different business needs.
Meta stated that the AI-powered agent not only responds to customers, but also acts as a partner by delivering morning briefings about missed chats and providing insights on conversations. Initial access is being granted to select businesses using WhatsApp Business app, Instagram Pro, Messenger, and Meta Business Suite. Future plans include expanding features so agents can handle operations such as market research and calendar management.
A new platform called Meta Business Agent Platform was also introduced. This infrastructure allows companies to build and customize their own agents at scale while connecting them with systems like Shopify or Zendesk. Larger enterprises will have access to controls enabling them to define rules and offer personalized experiences through messaging apps used by their customers.
Additionally, discovery features are being enhanced so users can find businesses powered by a Meta Business Agent directly through WhatsApp search or by sharing contact information within chats.
