Meta launches new AI Tools, Meta Verified for Businesses on WhatsApp in India

Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp is testing new artificial intelligence (AI) tools for small businesses to better assist consumers in India and Singapore. The move aims at amplifying the company’s efforts to turn messaging apps into viable business units, said analysts.

Meta said that AI tools help businesses on WhatsApp better assist their customers and help them discover new products they may be interested in. The company is training AI to respond to the most popular questions businesses receive on WhatsApp, so they can quickly help customers find the answers they’re seeking.

Meta is also integrating AI to help businesses create ads on Facebook and Instagram, reminding customers they left an item in their cart or offering a discount for a purchase they’ve been waiting to make. “We believe AI tools can help businesses get people the help they are looking for and find new products and services as well,” WhatsApp said in the post.

WhatsApp has also started to roll out Meta Verified on the WhatsApp Business app in Brazil, Colombia, India and Indonesia, according to the post.

Businesses that register their information with Meta will receive a Meta Verified badge, impersonation protection, enhanced account support from Meta and the ability to use WhatsApp across multiple devices for their employees, according to the post.
“We look forward to expanding this important service to more businesses and countries soon,” WhatsApp said in the post.

A third new tool announced Thursday by WhatsApp is a feature that will let consumers call larger businesses on the platform in one tap. The feature is designed to make it easy for consumers to switch from a text conversation to a voice call when they have a complicated question, for example.

“We just started testing this feature and will expand it to more businesses in the coming months,” WhatsApp said in the post.

Meta has been deploying AI across its platforms and plans to continue. For example, the company launched a Meta AI assistant that is free and can be used on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.

“We’re building several different AI services, from our AI assistant to augmented reality apps and glasses, to APIs that help creators engage their communities and that fans can interact with, to business APIs that we think every business eventually on our platform will use,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said April 24 during the company’s quarterly earnings call.

The global chatbot market size is estimated to grow by $3,193.3 million from 2023-2027, according to market research firm Technavio. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 29.59% during the forecast period, it said.