For years, the market has been flooded with noise around artificial intelligence. Under the label of “AI-powered,” companies sold chatbots that were, in reality, little more than rigid decision trees with a basic language model on top. Business owners, trusting in the promise of efficiency, invested in complex diagrams and technical teams to activate tools that the market ultimately rejected.
The problem wasn’t a lack of will to grow. It was that the technology demanded something from SMBs they simply weren’t: software development companies.
This disconnect reached a breaking point on Jan. 15th, 2026. Meta formalized a reality the market had already sensed: the ban of general-purpose AI chatbots on WhatsApp, the lifeblood of Latin American commerce.
The decision caught dozens of companies off guard, but the message for the WhatsApp-driven economy was unmistakable: The market has…
