An Arabic AI agent for customer service on WhatsApp — understands dialect and sells around the clock
The short answer
An AI agent is not a smarter chatbot — it is a different thing. A chatbot walks a drawn path and breaks at the first question off it. An agent reads your sources — your knowledge base and your store's products — understands dialect as typed, answers a question nobody wrote a reply for, remembers the customer, and hands over to a person when it should.
On WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger from one account. Measured across thousands of real conversations: median reply 4.3 seconds, and 71% of conversations cost nothing at Meta.
Chatbot versus agent — the difference that shows at the first odd question
The chatbot
- canned replies behind buttons
- breaks on a question off the path
- does not remember the last message
- every new product = a manual edit
The AI agent
- reads your knowledge base and products live
- understands dialect and misspellings
- remembers the customer across channels
- says "I don't know" and hands over
What it actually does in a shop
- Answers from your sources, not its imagination
A PDF, your site's link, or your connected store. The price it quotes is the store's price at the moment of the question. How it reads products with no catalogue upload.
- Shows the product as a card and takes the order
Photo, price and a buy button inside the chat, then name, address and payment method — and it creates the order in your store.
- Follows up with whoever went quiet
A customer who asked the price then vanished gets a reminder timed and worded for their state — not one message for everyone.
- Hands over to a person, and goes quiet when one steps in
If the customer asks for a person, or your employee types from WhatsApp, the agent stops on that conversation automatically and the team is alerted.
Measured numbers, not promises
The first two figures come from our own logs on real platform traffic (2026-09). The calculator works out yours.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a chatbot and an AI agent?
A chatbot walks a drawn path: button → reply → button. The first question off the path stops it. An agent understands the question as typed — Egyptian, Saudi, misspelt — searches your knowledge base and products, composes the reply, and remembers what the customer said three messages ago. The difference is not intelligence; it is that the agent reads your sources instead of memorising replies.
Does it understand Egyptian and Saudi dialect?
Yes, and it replies in it. You choose the agent's dialect — Egyptian, Saudi, Gulf, or MSA — and its tone. A customer who writes "بكام الحتة دي" is understood just as one who writes "كم سعر هذا المنتج" — and "واتس اب" or "الواتس" just as "واتساب".
What happens when it does not know the answer?
It says it does not know and hands over to a person — it does not invent. Every question it could not find is logged for you as an "unanswered question" so you add the answer once and it knows it for good. And you can switch it off for one conversation with a single button.
What does each reply cost?
At Meta: replies inside the 24-hour window are free today, and from October 2026 the first thousand per number a month are free. With us: the plan includes a monthly number of AI replies, with message packs above it. Pricing.
Does it work on Instagram and Messenger or only WhatsApp?
The same agent answers WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Facebook comments and TikTok — from one account and one knowledge base. A customer who messaged you on Instagram in the morning and WhatsApp in the evening finds the agent remembers them.
How do I teach it my products and policies?
Upload a PDF or your site's link and it reads it; connect your store and it reads products live with no upload. Answer five questions about your shop (how to order, shipping, contact) and it builds its rules. Ten minutes for the first agent.
Read next
Build your first agent in ten minutes — on your real customers
Upload a file or connect your store, pick the dialect, and connect WhatsApp or Instagram. The agent answers your first customer before you pay anything. Service page · Agent solutions.