Meta launches Business Agent AI across WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram as part of Meta One subscription

Meta is launching Meta Business Agent, an AI service that businesses can use across WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram to respond to customer inquiries, recommend products, and book appointments. The feature will be part of the Meta One subscription tier announced last week.

"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 Wednesday at a company event in London.

Pricing and availability

Meta will charge large businesses using WhatsApp Business Platform on a consumption basis for the AI agent feature, similar to the per-message pricing model already in place. Specific pricing per message was not disclosed. The service evolved from Business AI, a free test version released in October that was available only in select countries including Mexico and India.

A new Meta Business Agent Platform allows businesses to connect third-party data sources from services like Shopify and Zendesk to enable personalized customer interactions.

Diversification push beyond ads

The launch represents Meta's latest effort to build revenue streams beyond digital advertising, which accounts for approximately 98% of the company's revenue. Meta has repeatedly struggled to sell digital and physical products to consumers and businesses over the years.

Zuckerberg claims Meta is "building agentic capabilities" for more advanced tasks including business growth suggestions, competitive intelligence, and real-time performance insights. "As our models advance, your agent will take on more and eventually help you run your whole business," Zuckerberg said in prepared remarks.

Competitive landscape

Meta enters an increasingly crowded AI agent market. Amazon and Microsoft recently released agent tools, while OpenClaw, a freely available AI agent platform, has gained significant traction. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described OpenClaw as "the most popular, open-source project in the history of humanity."

Meta also announced last week it would begin testing subscription services for its Meta AI app and website, bundling premium features under the Meta One brand for creators and companies.

What this means

Meta's move signals a strategic pivot toward enterprise AI services as the company attempts to monetize its AI investments beyond ad targeting improvements. The consumption-based pricing model for WhatsApp Business Platform users provides a clear revenue path, though success depends on whether businesses find value in automated customer service compared to human agents or competing AI platforms. The integration across Meta's messaging apps gives the company distribution advantages, but the lack of disclosed pricing and technical capabilities makes it difficult to assess competitive positioning against established enterprise AI vendors.