Overview
- Meta unveiled the Business Agent on June 3, making an AI conversational tool available to selected businesses worldwide inside WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger with a waitlist for broader access.
- The agent can answer customer questions, recommend products from a business catalog, book appointments, qualify leads and complete sales while handing off to a human when needed.
- Access is free at launch but Meta will introduce a two-track pricing plan with token-based consumption charges for large customers on the WhatsApp Business Platform and subscription tiers for smaller firms via Meta One.
- Meta also launched a Business Agent Platform that links agents to external systems such as Shopify, Zendesk and Shopee, lets companies configure custom agents, and advertises minute‑scale deployment and enterprise controls.
- Pilots in India, Mexico and Brazil grew an installed base of over one million businesses, and investors and customers are watching how quickly Meta converts that base to paid users and how the product competes with Salesforce, Google, Microsoft and specialist startups.