Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Targets ‘Hundreds of Millions’ of Small Businesses with Agentic AI Rollout

Mark Zuckerberg's meta is investing heavily in AI technology as he tries to keep up with industry players like Openai. Now, the social media giant hopes that “hundreds of millions of small businesses will adopt Agent AI to reach new customers.

CNBC Report Clara Shih, Head of Business AI at Meta, believes that AI is set up to transform any job and any business, including hundreds of millions of small businesses, to connect with customers using Meta's platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. In an interview with CNBC's Julia Bourgstin for CNBC's Spotlight series, Sea discussed the rapid evolution of AI technology and its potential impact on businesses of all sizes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd6j8hsxxhs

Meta recently announced that the upcoming Lama 4 AI will support Power AI agents. This represents the latest trends in generator AI. These AI agents allow for sophisticated inference and action, such as surfing the web and handling a variety of tasks that can benefit both consumers and businesses. “We'll soon come to a place where every business, from very large to very small, represents it, acts in its voice and has a business agent, the way that businesses today have a website and email address,” Shee said.

According to META, the potential applications for AI agents for businesses are enormous. 200 million small businesses already using Meta services and platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and more can quickly have an AI assistant who can automate redundant tasks, communicate with business voice, find new customers, and provide each customer with a 24/7 concierge service.

Shih highlighted the importance of ensuring AI access to businesses of all sizes, especially small businesses that may not have the resources to hire large AI teams. Meta specially builds business AI for these small and medium-sized businesses, allowing you to benefit from ongoing AI innovation. Shih predicts that in the near future, all businesses will have AI agents that represent it, regardless of size.

Sea believes that AI will affect all employment functions in all industries, just as the internet, mobile technology and social media have done in the past. “No one job has been completely converted by the Internet, mobile or social media. I think we are at the same time as AI. It's clear that there are certain occupations where AI can change jobs dramatically. But my prediction is that over time, AI will change all job functions in any industry,” she said.