AI agents will change the business-customer relationship

Illustration photo. Source: Tin Tuc Newspaper

An AI agent is an AI system that is capable of perceiving its environment, receiving feedback, and taking appropriate actions based on that information. In some documents, an AI agent is also defined as a system that can solve complex problems, plan actions, and execute these plans thanks to its equipped toolkit.

The latest generation of AI agents can act on behalf of humans in activities such as booking doctor’s appointments or writing computer code. The migration of AI agents to popular messaging services such as WhatsApp opens up even more opportunities for businesses in sales, support, marketing, and branding.

Meta paid $19 billion to acquire WhatsApp in 2014. Meta predicts that combining AI workers and enterprise messaging could create a new growth engine. In April 2025, Meta increased its company-wide capital spending forecast for the year to $64 billion to $72 billion, largely due to investments in AI.

AI agents have access to a huge amount of data about users, making it possible to tailor recommendations, information, and insights to their needs. And once an AI agent “resides” in a messaging app, it can create a constant presence in a user’s life, just like a human.

Once AI recognizes its users and remembers their history, it stops feeling like a tool and starts feeling like a companion, says Conor Grennan, an AI expert at New York University's Stern School of Business.

But there are two sides to every coin. As AI agents become more human, they are increasingly susceptible to the pitfalls of human relationships. For example, Air Canada issued a refund to a customer in 2024 after the airline’s AI-based virtual assistant (chatbot) provided incorrect information about the airline’s policies.

Consumers may not trust an AI agent's response and may ask to speak to a human representative the way they do today when calling an automated customer service phone line, technology experts advise.

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/doanh-nhan/cac-tac-nhan-ai-se-lam-thay-doi-moi-quan-he-doanh-nghiep-khach-hang/20250512091010976