Meta Platforms Inc. unfurled Meta Business Agent, a significant push to monetize artificial intelligence (AI) and expand into the enterprise software market.
Announced at the company’s Conversations conference in London on Wednesday, the new tool transforms Meta’s existing communication apps WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram into automated customer service and sales hubs. Powered by advanced AI, the agent goes beyond traditional, rule-based chatbots to perform complex tasks, including product recommendations, appointment booking, lead qualification, and closing sales.
“Today, I want to introduce Meta Business Agent, giving every business, of any size, an agent to talk to customers and help run your operation,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in prepared remarks. “Now, a clothing shop in Birmingham or a bakery in São Paulo can offer the same always-on, highly personalized experience as a major brand.”
The rollout signals a major shift for Meta, which has historically relied on digital advertising for roughly 98% of its revenue. By moving into agentic AI utilities, Meta aims to directly challenge OpenAI, Anthropic, and Microsoft Corp. for a share of the lucrative enterprise market.
To support large-scale adoption, Meta also introduced the Business Agent Platform. This system allows corporations to connect AI with third-party data pipelines like Shopify Inc., Zendesk Inc., and Shopee. For deeper corporate integration, Meta’s newly formed Enterprise Solutions team, led by Head of Product Naomi Gleit, will deploy specialized engineering squads to work directly with large enterprise clients.
“This is definitely an enterprise play,” Gleit told Reuters, noting that future iterations of the agent will provide market research, competitive insights, and full operational management. “We actually want to take actions now… to complete the payment, to process the booking, to place the order.”
The tool will initially be available for free, but Meta plans to monetize it through a tiered subscription model under its Meta One and WhatsApp Business Premium services. Large enterprises will be billed on a consumption basis calculated by token usage.
The ambitious launch comes amid growing safety and security scrutiny. Earlier this week, a vulnerability was exposed when hackers manipulated Meta’s support chatbot into relinquishing control of high-profile Instagram accounts. Gleit downplayed the AI’s role in the breach, clarifying that the agent had inadvertently exposed a pre-existing bug in an underlying technical check rather than failing itself.
Despite security concerns, Wall Street responded favorably to the enterprise pivot, sending Meta shares up more than 3% during morning trading following the announcement.
