Meta has launched Business Artificial Intelligence, an automated customer assistant designed to act as a round-the-clock sales agent. The tool provides personalized product recommendations, answers questions and guides shoppers through checkout, meeting customers across Facebook, Instagram and Shopify-powered websites. Positioned to turn engagement into conversions, the assistant aims to streamline service while helping retailers surface the right products at the right time.
Clara Shih, Meta’s head of business Artificial Intelligence, said during a briefing that the company wants to help businesses beyond advertising and beyond Meta’s own apps. Companies can add the Business Artificial Intelligence assistant to Meta ads at no cost, enabling shoppers to ask questions and even complete purchases directly within Facebook and Instagram campaigns. Deploying the assistant on a company’s own website will require a separate fee that Meta says will be lower than current market offerings, though final pricing is not set. Meta notes that people’s activity across its platforms already informs what content and ads they see, and interactions with Artificial Intelligence assistants will become another signal used to improve relevance.
The assistant also feeds back customer intent. Conversations about products, upcoming trips or problems generate structured insights that Meta says can improve ad targeting and content recommendations. For retailers, this can cut repetitive support tasks so staff can focus on complex issues, while the assistant suggests complementary items or upgrades to increase order value. Over time, these interactions can help businesses identify trends, plan inventory, sharpen promotions and adjust pricing strategies based on what shoppers actually ask for.
Businesses can customize their agent with existing data, including product catalogs, website content, social posts and ad campaigns, so responses reflect up-to-date offerings. Teams can set which topics the assistant covers, define a brand voice and review every conversation in the Business Suite inbox. Meta says companies can update information at any time, connect relevant documents or catalogs and give feedback on responses to improve accuracy. According to the company, setup requires no coding and the assistant can also be used on external websites.
Meta is complementing the assistant with generative Artificial Intelligence features in its Advantage Plus suite, including Artificial Intelligence generated music tailored to product style and mood, Artificial Intelligence powered dubbing for multilingual audiences and enhanced high dynamic range video for brighter visuals. The platform can create multiple ad variants for different audience segments, and Meta is experimenting with virtual try-on features. On the creator side, the Facebook Creator Discovery API helps brands find partners by keyword and audience metrics, while the Instagram Creator Marketplace is expanding to more countries and is accessible to agencies, advertisers and external developers via Meta Business Suite. Artificial Intelligence powered collaboration suggestions can flag organic creator posts that are good candidates to convert into partnership ads.
