Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, is planning to introduce free artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on WhatsApp as part of its strategy to monetize messaging apps. The move represents CEO Mark Zuckerberg's efforts to incorporate AI into Meta's apps and generate revenue.
Unlike its competitors, Meta is giving away its AI model and chatbot for free. This approach marks a departure from Meta's targeted advertising tools used on other platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.
In a recent announcement at a conference in Brazil, Meta launched its first AI-powered ad targeting program for businesses on WhatsApp. According to the Wall Street Journal, this marks a significant shift for the encrypted messaging service, which has previously emphasized its privacy credentials and avoided targeted advertising. New AI tools will leverage user behavior on Facebook and Instagram to deliver messages to users who are most likely to engage with them. Businesses will now have the opportunity to optimize ad delivery for these recipients, which is critical since they are paying for these messages.
Meta is actively working to monetize WhatsApp, its largest app in terms of daily users. Despite its massive popularity and a whopping valuation of $22 billion in 2014, WhatsApp contributes only a small portion of Meta's total revenue. To combat this Meta has introduced in-app commerce and payment features, including business messaging tools for customer service and marketing. The new AI chatbot on WhatsApp will allow businesses to outsource their communications to automated tools, streamlining the process of answering common inquiries and assisting with tasks such as searching catalogs or checking business hours. will
Additionally, Meta announced that it will integrate Brazilian digital payment method PIX into its WhatsApp payment tool. PIX, developed by the central bank, accounted for about 39% of transactions in Brazil last year and offers similar services to WhatsApp payments, including money transfers and purchases from companies. The addition reflects Meta's commitment to expand its payment services within WhatsApp, following a similar move in India where it began offering payment services from rival providers.