At the Conversations event in London, Meta unveiled AI agents for business. The new tool is designed for those who actively use WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.
At the Conversations event in London, Meta unveiled AI agents for business. The new tool is designed for those who actively use WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.
The new tool, called Meta Business Agent, will allow business owners to delegate many of their day-to-day tasks, including communicating with customers and booking appointments. Meta says the AI agent will even be able to “close deals” and recommend products, though human business owners will be able to join the conversation at any time, Engadget reports .
The company has already tested these agents with small businesses in India, Mexico, and Brazil, and says that over a million users have signed up to test them. Now, the AI agents will be available to any business on WhatsApp, as well as Instagram and Messenger.
While this isn’t the first time Meta has allowed companies to automate processes like customer responses, the company clearly has much more ambitious plans for the feature than just building another customer chatbot. The ultimate goal, Zuckerberg says, is for AI agents to “ultimately help you run your entire business,” though he notes that this will also require improvements to the company’s underlying AI models.
Meanwhile, Meta is working on a suite of advanced features for autonomous agents that will allow them to be more involved in the behind-the-scenes aspects of running a company. These include “conducting market research, uncovering product insights, integrating with calendar management tools, and analyzing the competitive landscape.” These features aren’t yet available to the general public, but there’s a waiting list for interested parties.
While the company says it's free to "get started" with a new business agent, it plans to move this feature to its new paid subscriptions "in the coming months."
