Meta Platforms unveiled an AI agent designed to help businesses carry out day-to-day tasks, as the social media giant looks to raise competition in the enterprise arena.

Meta Business Agent is an AI-powered tool designed to let any business, from a one-person shop to a global enterprise, respond to customers around the clock without missing a beat.

It also positions the company to better rival OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in the enterprise AI market.

More than a million businesses are already using some version of the agent on WhatsApp and Messenger, but yesterday (3 June) Meta started offering it globally to businesses of all sizes.

Meta explained Business Agent can be setup up in minutes or plugged directly into an existing enterprise infrastructure.

The agent can handle conversations in business customers’ local languages and tone from the first day.

It can answer business-specific questions, recommend products from a catalogue, book appointments, qualify leads, and even close sales. When a situation calls for a human touch, users can decide exactly when a team member needs to step in.

The expansion to Instagram is also live and getting started is free. Meta stated paid subscription tiers are coming in the months ahead, with options built to fit businesses of every size.

Meta is positioning the agent as more than just a chatbot. The agent doubles as a daily partner, capable of delivering morning briefings which catch businesses up on overnight conversations while surfacing insights from customer threads.

It is rolling out the agent to a select group of businesses on WhatsApp Business, Instagram Pro, Messenger, and Meta Business Suite, with a waitlist open for others.

For businesses that want deeper customisation, Meta is also launching the Business Agent Platform, an enterprise-grade infrastructure layer which connects to hundreds of third-party systems including Shopify, Zendesk and Shopee, giving the agent the ability to take real action on a business’ behalf.

The social media giant is also making it easier for people to discover businesses powered by a Meta Business Agent directly on WhatsApp.

Soon, people on WhatsApp will be able to find businesses by searching a name or sharing a contact card in a chat, which means every new customer who reaches out gets a helpful response from the start.

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