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Meta Platforms on Wednesday launched an AI-powered business agent designed to handle day-to-day commercial operations on behalf of companies, marking the social media giant's most direct challenge yet to established enterprise AI players like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
Announced at the company's Conversations conference in London, the new Meta Business Agent can be deployed across WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, handling everything from customer inquiries and product recommendations to appointment bookings and sales closures, all without human intervention.
The launch positions Meta, which still derives roughly 98% of its revenue from digital advertising, as a serious contender in the fast-growing market for enterprise AI tools. CEO Mark Zuckerberg framed the product as a democratizing force for businesses of all sizes.
"A clothing shop in Birmingham or a bakery in São Paulo can now offer the same always-on, highly personalized experience as a major brand," Zuckerberg said in prepared remarks at the London event.
More than 1 million businesses were already using earlier chatbot versions of the technology across Meta's apps. The upgraded agent goes considerably further, moving beyond scripted, rule-based responses to take meaningful real-world actions on a company's behalf.
The tool will initially be available to businesses at no cost, with paid subscription tiers under the Meta One brand planned in the coming months. Larger enterprises will also gain access to a broader Business Agent Platform, connected to third-party services including Shopify and Zendesk.
Shares of Meta rose more than 3% in morning trading following the announcement.
The rollout does come with acknowledged risks. Earlier this week, hackers exploited a vulnerability in a Meta AI support chatbot to access high-profile Instagram accounts, a lapse the company said it was still investigating.
Meta's head of product, Naomi Gleit, called the new agent push "definitely an enterprise play."
