Meta is reportedly working on a new AI agent codenamed Hatch, as the company pushes beyond chatbot-style assistants and toward AI tools that can complete tasks more independently for users.
According to Reuters, citing a Financial Times report, Meta is developing a highly personalized artificial intelligence assistant designed to carry out everyday tasks for its users. The assistant is part of Meta’s broader move into agentic AI, a category of systems that can act more independently than traditional chatbots.
The project comes as Meta already has Meta AI inside several of its major apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. The next step appears to be giving AI more ability to act across tasks, services and user workflows instead of only answering questions inside a chat window.
What Is Hatch?
Hatch is reportedly an internal Meta project inspired by OpenClaw, an AI agent system designed to connect with multiple software and hardware tools and learn from user data with less manual input than a standard chatbot.
Reuters reported that Meta is training the internal AI agent with the goal of completing internal testing by the end of June, citing reporting from The Information.
The idea is simple but potentially powerful: instead of asking an AI assistant for information and then doing the work yourself, users could give the AI a short instruction and let it complete parts of the task.
Possible use cases could include summarizing chats, tracking prices, checking information across services, organizing tasks or helping users take action inside Meta’s apps and connected services. The exact feature set has not been officially announced by Meta.
Meta Wants AI to Move From Answers to Actions
The shift matters because Meta’s apps are already part of daily communication, shopping and content discovery for billions of people. Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads give Meta a large surface area where an AI assistant could become part of everyday behavior.
Until now, most consumer AI assistants have mainly answered questions, generated text or helped users create images. Agentic AI changes that model. The assistant does not only respond. It can potentially plan, click, compare, summarize and complete tasks based on a user’s instruction.
For Meta, that could turn AI from a feature inside its apps into a connective layer across its ecosystem.
An Instagram Shopping Agent Is Also Reportedly Coming
Meta is also reportedly working on a separate agentic shopping tool for Instagram. According to Reuters, citing The Information, Meta plans to integrate the shopping agent into Instagram and is targeting a launch before the fourth quarter of 2026.
The shopping agent could make Instagram commerce more automated. Instead of only discovering a product in a post, Reel or ad, users may eventually be able to ask the AI to search for matching products, compare prices, find a better option and move closer to checkout without leaving the app experience.
That would fit Meta’s broader commerce strategy. Instagram is already a major product discovery platform, but purchases often move users away from the app or into merchant-owned checkout flows. A shopping agent could keep more of the discovery and buying process inside Meta’s environment.
Why This Matters for Marketers and Publishers
For online marketers, the bigger signal is that AI agents may become new gatekeepers of discovery and conversion.
If users rely on AI assistants to compare products, summarize messages, choose options or complete purchases, visibility will no longer depend only on traditional feeds, search results or ads. Brands may need to think about how their products, prices, reviews, descriptions and trust signals are interpreted by AI systems inside large platforms.
This could affect several areas:
- Social commerce: Instagram may become less about passive discovery and more about AI-assisted shopping decisions.
- Performance marketing: Ads and product listings may need to be structured for AI interpretation, not only human clicks.
- SEO and platform visibility: AI agents could become another layer between users and websites.
- Customer communication: AI assistants that summarize chats or messages may change how brands communicate with users.
The Privacy Question
Agentic AI also raises obvious privacy and trust questions. A tool that summarizes messages, tracks products, searches across services or completes purchases needs access to sensitive context. That could include conversations, preferences, purchase intent, contacts, shopping behavior and payment-related information.
Meta has not officially announced Hatch or detailed how such an assistant would handle user data, permissions or privacy controls. Those details will likely matter as much as the product itself.
The Bottom Line
Meta’s reported work on Hatch and an Instagram shopping agent shows where consumer AI is heading next. The next generation of assistants will not only answer questions. They will act inside apps, compare options and help users complete tasks.
For Meta, the opportunity is clear: bring agentic AI directly into the apps people already use every day. For marketers, publishers and e-commerce brands, the message is just as clear: platform visibility is moving from feeds and search boxes toward AI-assisted decision flows.
If Meta succeeds, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and Messenger may become more than social apps. They could become places where AI agents help users decide, organize and buy.
