Mark Zuckerberg’s move to hire Kunal Shah to head WhatsApp is a clear statement of intent — the Meta boss wants the dominant messaging service to lead an aggressive push into financial services and catalyse his ambitious bet on artificial intelligence, driving the platform’s next growth phase a decade after being acquired by the Facebook parent.
Shah’s elevation comes as WhatsApp evolves into an AI distribution channel, with big shifts in its monetisation model. Key elements include AI agents for businesses and the Meta AI chatbot for consumers — all of which will be instrumental in Zuckerberg’s pursuit of what he calls personal superintelligence.
With over half-a-billion Meta platform users, India is uniquely positioned to make the agents ubiquitous, Alexandr Wang, chief AI officer at Meta Platforms Inc and leader of its Superintelligence Labs, told ET recently.
The Cred founder’s appointment could revive WhatsApp's fintech ambitions in India that lost momentum after former country head Abhijit Bose exited in 2022 , executives said.
