An intelligent agent configured around a specific business that does a defined job — usually customer communication on WhatsApp — 24/7, with that business's knowledge, rules and tone.
The term WhatsMyBiz uses for what an intelligent agent becomes when it's built for one business: not a generic chatbot, but an agent that holds your services, prices, processes and tone, and does the repetitive work a receptionist or assistant would do — if you could afford three of them.
The distinction from a chatbot: a chatbot follows a script; an AI employee holds business knowledge and follows rules. The distinction from a general AI assistant: an AI employee is grounded in your business, not in everything.
A useful way to think about it: hire it like an employee — define the job, provide the knowledge, set the boundaries, review the early conversations.
In South Africa, the AI employee's natural home is WhatsApp — where customers already are. The local maths is stark: an agent at R1,000–R3,500 a month versus a hire at R8,000–R15,000+, in a market where “first to reply” wins the job. Load shedding and mixed languages are exactly the kind of context a well-configured agent absorbs.