Meta announced new artificial intelligence-powered messaging features at its Conversations event in London on June 3. Some of the updates include expanded access to its business agents, which can respond to customers on a brand’s behalf; improved business discovery on WhatsApp; and an AI builder platform for more advanced agentic experiences.
First, Meta is expanding access to its AI-powered business agents, which businesses can set up to answer common questions via Messenger and WhatsApp.
Meta’s business agents provide automated responses, and can also collect customer details from their interactions, thus reducing manual labor time and improving customer service.
Meta originally made the option available in selected markets, but it’s now extending that access globally.
As explained by Meta: “More than one million businesses are already using a Meta Business Agent on WhatsApp and Messenger to respond to customers around the clock. And because a billion people already connect with businesses on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram every day, your Business Agent can deliver more relevant, personalized experiences from the very first interaction.”
In addition, Meta is also expanding its AI agents to Instagram.
Though the company also offered this note: “In the coming months, businesses will access the agent through our paid subscription offerings, with options for businesses of every size.”
So if businesses want to create an AI bot, powered by Meta, they’ll soon need to pay for it.
Meta also wants to connect users with businesses that have an AI agent on WhatsApp, via a new search option.
“Starting soon, people will be able to find businesses by typing their name in the Search bar, or by sharing their phone number or contact card in chats with friends and family,” Meta said. “This way, when more customers reach out they get a quick, helpful response.”
Meta is also expanding the capacity of its business AI agents so they can provide insights and reminders to business owners.
A business agent will be able to deliver rundowns of key notes and queries, and help keep owners informed of the latest.
“[I]n the future, we’ll expand its capabilities to help run all your day-to-day operations — like conducting market research, surfacing product insights, connecting with the tools to manage your calendar and providing competitive intelligence,” Meta said.
It could be a valuable addition, which could increase the practical value of Meta’s AI offerings for more businesses. But then again, it feels like a lot of trust to be putting into AI tools, which are prone to errors and missed data points.
Meta also announced a new Meta Business Agent Platform, which will enable businesses to build and deploy business agents at scale.
The platform will enable business users to connect their other platforms, including Shopify, Zendesk and Shopee, which will then enable Meta’s AI tools to undertake more tasks.
Meta said the platform will include built-in enterprise-grade controls, guardrails and measurement tools, so each user can define their own rules and processes.
Essentially, Meta is still trying to find more valuable applications for its evolving AI tools as the company looks to justify its massive AI development spending, and showcase the future revenue potential of its AI expansion.
Whether these are the tools that do that remains to be seen, but all of the announced updates align with Meta’s expanding push to show that its AI tools can replace human labor to increase efficiency, and reduce costs.
User experience will ultimately tell the tale on that front, but that’s clearly the aim here, as Meta looks to keep the AI party going, despite consumer sentiment turning against the technology.
