WhatsApp Just Turned Into a 24/7 AI Business Assistant for Small Businesses in India

Meta has announced the rollout of Business AI on WhatsApp for small businesses in India. The new feature brings AI-powered customer support directly into the WhatsApp Business app, allowing eligible businesses to automate replies, answer customer questions, recommend products, and capture leads without relying on third-party tools.

The feature supports all native Indian languages and will become available to eligible businesses over the coming weeks.

What Business AI Can Do

Business AI is designed to handle common customer conversations automatically, especially outside business hours or during busy periods. Businesses can train the AI using their product catalogs, pricing details, shipping information, FAQs, and other business documents.

Once set up, the AI can answer queries related to products, discounts, services, and deliveries. If a customer asks something more complex, the business owner can step in and continue the conversation manually.

Meta also confirmed that support for UPI payments inside WhatsApp chats is coming soon, which could make direct ordering easier for customers.

How Businesses Can Access It

Eligible businesses can access the feature directly through the WhatsApp Business app. To enable it, users need to head to the Tools tab and select the “Your Business AI” option.

WhatsApp then guides businesses through the setup process, where they can upload catalogs, add business details, and configure how the AI should respond to customer queries.

Businesses can also manually take over conversations whenever needed, change AI settings, or disable the feature completely.