Meta on Wednesday said it is making its customer support AI bot available globally within WhatsApp. The bot is now known as Meta Business Agent. Meta has spent nearly two years testing AI agents in WhatsApp Business for customer support in countries like India and Mexico. The company is now infusing AI into WhatsApp to turn the platform into workflow software for small and medium businesses.
AI Agent Can Answer Questions, Recommend Products, And Book Appointments
Meta said the AI agent can answer customer questions, recommend products, book appointments, qualify sales leads, and reroute queries to a person if needed. The company is also making the bot available within Instagram DMs. Meta said it is testing a way for the Business Agent to provide daily briefings of chats that occurred overnight and provide insights. The company is testing this feature with select accounts on WhatsApp Business, Instagram Pro, Messenger, and Meta Business Suite.
Planned Capabilities Include Market Research And Calendar Management
The company said it is working to add capabilities like doing market research, highlighting product features, managing users’ calendars, and connecting with tools to extract competitive insights. Meta said it is also working to enable the Agent to surface businesses when a user searches for one or shares contact details in chat. The company is building a platform to let larger enterprises create custom agents that can connect to systems like Shopify, Zendesk, and Shopee.
Meta Plans To Charge Businesses For AI Agent Usage
Meta is planning to charge businesses for using this AI agent by including it in some tiers of its WhatsApp Business Premium subscription. The company noted that large businesses will pay for the agent based on how many tokens they use. WhatsApp has historically relied on businesses paying for messaging and click-to-WhatsApp ads. Meta’s announcement provides details on the rollout. TechCrunch has covered the company’s previous testing phases. WhatsApp’s website lists current Business Premium features.
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