Meta begins new phase of AI monetization: WhatsApp launches enterprise AI agents
According to the Financial Times, as Meta seeks to open up a new significant revenue stream for WhatsApp, WhatsApp business users will soon be able to use AI agents to automatically respond to customer inquiries. This move marks one of Meta's first steps in commercializing its latest multi-billion dollar AI investments, moving beyond reliance solely on its core advertising business for monetization.
After months of testing in select markets, Meta's new product "Enterprise AI Agent" has now begun global rollout. The tool can automatically respond to customer messages, provide businesses with operational feedback and data insights, and in some scenarios, complete sales conversions or appointment scheduling without human intervention. In the future, this feature will also be extended to the Instagram messaging system.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said via video at a product launch event in London on Wednesday: "A few years ago, I mentioned that every business would eventually have its own AI agent, just as every company today has an email address, a website, and social media accounts. And this process is developing even faster than I expected." (Jin Shi)
