WhatsApp AI Chatbot and Assistant

A WhatsApp AI chatbot is software that greets and answers the messages sent to your business's WhatsApp number. Simple chatbots work with menus and buttons: the customer taps an option and the bot replies with that option's answer. An AI assistant understands a question typed in the customer's own words and bases its answer on information you have approved. In the setups we build, we often combine the two.

Menu bot or AI assistant?

What does a WhatsApp AI assistant do?

• Answers questions about products, services, price ranges, address and opening hours.
• Asks for the details a request needs: name, need, order number, convenient time.
• Saves the request to your CRM or the team inbox.
• Hands the conversation to a person when it is unsure or the topic is out of scope.
• Tells customers who write out of hours when they will hear back, and gathers the details in the meantime.

Meta's AI policy

Since 15 January 2026 Meta no longer allows general-purpose AI chatbots on the WhatsApp Business Platform. The ban targets services that chat about anything and whose main product is the AI itself. Assistants a business runs for its own customer support, sales and information are allowed. That is why we define the assistant's remit from the start: it answers only questions related to your business and politely declines off-topic ones.

How reliable are the answers?

AI answers are not error-free in every case. To reduce the risk, the assistant answers only from approved sources. For information that changes, such as prices, stock or availability, we recommend connecting it to your systems or having it hand those questions to the team. Before launch we build a test set from real customer questions and review the answers with you. After launch we recommend reviewing conversations regularly.

Handing over to a person

A good WhatsApp chatbot does not trap customers in a loop. When the customer asks, when a message contains a complaint, or when the assistant is unsure, the conversation moves to the right person. The conversation so far and the details collected appear in front of that person, so the customer does not have to repeat themselves. We set up the handover rules together with your conversation assignment setup.

Telling customers they are talking to an assistant

We recommend letting customers know they are writing to an AI assistant. The greeting message says so in one short sentence and keeps the option to talk to a person visible. Being open about it protects customer trust and tells people what to do if an answer is wrong.

How we set up a WhatsApp AI chatbot

First we work out what your customers ask most on WhatsApp, drawing on past conversations, your FAQs and your team's experience. Then we write down which topics the assistant answers and which it hands to the team. We build the knowledge base and test it with real questions. In the first weeks after launch we read conversations with you and correct wrong or incomplete answers. A WhatsApp AI chatbot only gets more accurate over time through this kind of regular care.

Working with other channels

The same knowledge base can also power the chat window on your website and other channels. The assistant side is described on our AI assistants page, and the overall WhatsApp flow structure on the WhatsApp automation page.