Meta & Salesforce Launch AI Agents For Small Businesses

Tech giants Meta and Salesforce are making bold moves into Agentic AI, introducing advanced autonomous agents designed to revolutionize customer interactions and business operations.

At a recent conference, Meta introduced an AI customer service agent for Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The AI can handle real-time inquiries, assist with returns, process purchases, and provide personalized product recommendations, among other capabilities.

Powered by Meta’s Llama AI model, the AI agent leverages data from businesses’ Meta presence and customer interactions to provide 24/7 personalized, on-brand customer assistance. Businesses can also build agents with their own data sources.

Meta’s AI agents can appear in ads, allowing users to ask questions directly on the ad page. They also operate through DMs or Messenger. Currently, the technology is free as part of Meta’s pilot program, though the company may introduce paid plans in the future.

“We are on the cusp of AI being in the hands of every consumer and every business,” said Clara Shih, the VP of Business AI at Meta. She emphasized that Meta’s AI agents are “democratizing access” to technology that was previously only available to large corporations.

Salesforce is taking AI automation further with AgentExchange, a marketplace for enterprise AI agents that automate routine tasks. By positioning itself at the forefront of what it estimates to be a $6 trillion “digital labor” market, Salesforce aims to redefine workplace efficiency.

Backed by over 200 partners – including Google Cloud, Sprout Social, and Workday – AgentExchange offers pre-built AI-powered solutions that businesses can implement without extensive technical expertise.

Unlike traditional chatbots, these AI agents can take direct actions within business systems. They handle multi-step operations autonomously, allowing businesses to focus on key operations rather than repetitive tasks.

One area of focus for Salesforce is easing the administrative burden in healthcare. Studies show that “around 87% of people in healthcare say they work late each day to finish up administrative tasks.”

“We are looking at three areas: patient access – making appointments, finding providers, benefits verification; public health paperwork; and clinical trial matching,” Amit Khanna, SVP and GM for Salesforce Health, shared.

These innovations signal a shift toward AI-driven efficiency, reshaping how businesses engage with customers and manage tasks. While the impact AI adoption will have on jobs remains uncertain, AI will inevitably transform the market. To stay competitive, workers should focus on integrating AI into their workflows rather than resisting automation.