Meta’s business AI tools processed nearly 10 million conversations per week by the end of March 2026, up from 1 million at the beginning of the year. That’s a tenfold increase in less than three months, a growth rate that puts Meta’s enterprise AI ambitions in a different conversation than the company usually gets credit for.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the company’s first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday to suggest that the current free access model is unlikely to survive.
This increase coincides with Meta’s recent expansion of its Business AI Assistant beta into the Americas, EMEA, APAC and LATAM regions. The broader rollout has pushed the tool into more markets at once, accelerating adoption among small and medium-sized businesses that are primarily using WhatsApp, Meta’s messaging platform, for customer communications.
CFO Susan Lee confirmed on the call that more than 8 million advertisers are now using at least one of the company’s generative AI ad creative tools, with strong traction among small businesses in particular.
The performance data is noteworthy: Advertisers using Meta’s video generation feature saw over 3% higher conversion rates in tests. This figure may seem modest, but at scale Meta drove $56.3 billion in Q1 revenue, up 33% year-over-year, with a 3% conversion increase across millions of ad accounts representing significant business impact.
Meta is also launching the open beta of Meta Ads AI Connectors this week, which will allow advertisers to link their Meta Ads account directly to an AI agent, adding another layer of automation to campaign management.
For now, Meta’s business AI tools are free for most businesses on its messaging apps. Zuckerberg indicated on the call that this is a deliberate scaling strategy rather than a permanent offering.
“As we make more progress, we hope to also work towards establishing a long-term monetization model,” he said.
Meta reported a profit of $26.8 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up from $16.6 billion in the same period last year. Revenue from its apps reached $885 million in the quarter, driven by paid WhatsApp messaging and app subscriptions. The company is also testing a WhatsApp Plus subscription tier that offers cosmetic features like custom icons and themes.
