[wryoak]

As someone who actually has acquaintances outside the US, I have used and do use WhatsApp so I’ll chime in.

I’ve basically done (had to do) this for lodging and transport in parts of the world where a web presence (and digital business architecture) are less common, though obviously without the AI (I assume). It’s not my favorite way to book things but it works. It’s not a terrible idea by any means and I’m sure it will be incorporated into many apps in the future - I say just build the dang thing and FB will prolly buy you out before you have to deal with a lot of the really hard problems. Focus on a particular market so you can hone in on getting it right for that one thing and accumulating some users and reputation.

[wagraduate]

Thanks for all the insights, and you're right - the use of WA to get things done is extremely popular in certain countries. However, automation isn't the norm. Most of it is through directly messaging local businesses.

I won't enter that territory of dealing with small, local businesses since there's very little ROI for them - while they can use automation, it will neither bring more customers nor reduce the overall costs nor help them in getting the products delivered to their customers. My plan is as stated in the (original) post.