Meta's WhatsApp Is Adding a New AI Assistant for Businesses

What You Need to Know

WhatsApp will soon test the new AI-powered assistant with businesses in India and Singapore, followed by Brazil.
The new features will support more than 200 million businesses that rely on WhatsApp to chat with their customers, the company said.

Meta Platforms Inc. is adding new artificial intelligence features to its messaging app WhatsApp, including an AI assistant that can help businesses connect with customers, answer questions, and sell their goods and services via chat.

WhatsApp will soon test the new AI-powered assistant with businesses in India and Singapore, followed by Brazil.

WhatsApp already includes an AI-powered assistant for regular users, but these new products were built specifically for businesses that regularly handle customer service queries and interactions.

The new features will support more than 200 million businesses that rely on WhatsApp to chat with their customers, the company said.

“Any business should be able to quickly stand up an agent that can talk to your customers, provide support and facilitate commerce,” Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday when he announced the new assistant during an event in São Paulo.

WhatsApp, which has more than 2 billion users worldwide, is particularly popular in places like Brazil, India, Indonesia and Mexico, where it’s common for people to chat with local businesses using the service. More than 120 million people use WhatsApp in Brazil each month, for example.