Meta’s proposed service would help entrepreneurs start, run, and grow businesses, charging only when it delivers results.
Menlo Park: Meta is developing an artificial intelligence platform that could eventually help entrepreneurs start, run, and grow entire businesses, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying the company aims to charge customers only when the service delivers measurable results.
Speaking during Meta’s second-quarter earnings call, Zuckerberg outlined the company’s long-term vision of creating what he described as a “business-in-a-box” powered by AI and integrated across Meta’s platforms.
“Over time, we’d like to build this into a business-in-a-box service that can help you start and run a whole business using Meta’s platforms,” Zuckerberg said.
AI Agents Already Serving Businesses
Meta said more than one million businesses now use its AI-powered agents every week across WhatsApp and Messenger, with the technology also being rolled out on Instagram.
The AI agents can already interact with customers, answer questions, and help complete purchases. Meta is now expanding their capabilities to provide businesses with deeper operational insights.
According to Zuckerberg, future versions of the service will be able to summarize customer conversations, identify buying trends, analyze competitors, and recommend ways to improve sales and business performance.
The AI could also prepare daily business summaries, allowing entrepreneurs to quickly understand what happened overnight and focus on the most important opportunities and issues.
Meta Plans Performance-Based Pricing
Meta expects to monetize the platform through a combination of subscription plans and usage-based pricing.
Zuckerberg said some AI services could eventually follow a performance-based model similar to Meta’s advertising business, where companies pay only when the platform generates successful outcomes.
“Businesses only pay us when we achieve results for them,” he said.
The approach reflects a broader shift toward outcome-based AI services, where pricing is tied to business performance rather than simply software access.
AI Investment Comes at a High Cost
The new business platform forms part of Meta’s wider AI strategy, which has required record investment in computing infrastructure and research.
During the second quarter, Meta reported:
- Revenue increased 28% year over year to $60.8 billion.
- Advertising revenue rose 27% to $59.4 billion.
- Total expenses climbed 55% to $42 billion.
- Operating income fell 8% to $18.8 billion.
- Operating margin narrowed from 43% to 31%.
The quarter also included $2.4 billion in legal charges and $1.18 billion in severance costs related to workforce reductions announced earlier this year.
Research and development spending surged 67% to $21.7 billion, reflecting Meta’s aggressive investment in AI technologies.
Massive Infrastructure Spending
Meta generated $31.9 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter but spent $31.1 billion on capital expenditures and finance lease payments, leaving free cash flow at $784 million, compared with $8.5 billion a year earlier.
The company now expects total capital expenditure, including finance lease payments, to reach between $130 billion and $145 billion this year as it expands its AI infrastructure.
AI Becoming Meta’s Core Strategy
Industry analysts view the business-in-a-box initiative as part of Meta’s broader transformation into an AI-first company.
Mike Proulx, Vice President and Research Director at Forrester, said Meta is moving beyond simply adding AI features to existing products.
“AI is now Meta’s operating model,” he said, noting that the company is integrating AI across its apps, advertising systems, creator tools, devices, and search experiences.
Alongside Business Agents, Zuckerberg said Meta is also exploring opportunities to generate revenue by offering AI APIs, productivity tools, and computing infrastructure to enterprise customers.
For now, however, the company’s AI-powered Business Agents represent its clearest commercial product, with Meta aiming to help entrepreneurs build and manage businesses while creating a new revenue stream beyond digital advertising.
Source: Inc
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