Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg noted on Wednesday's first-quarter results call that WhatsApp now uses it every month over 3 billion people.

Founded in 2009, WhatsApp was acquired in 2014 for $19 billion and is still available for free and does not offer any advertising. The app hit 20 billion monthly active user marks in 2020, but with the latest milestones, it is now one of the few apps with more than 3 billion user trademarks, besides Facebook.

That huge user base makes WhatsApp a key business for META, especially now, as the company has bet on its AI strategy. The company has previously said the app is one of the largest distribution platforms for its AI services.

“We’re seeing people interacting with meta AI from several different entrances. WhatsApp continues to see the most powerful Meta AI usage in our app home,” said Susan Li, Meta’s chief financial officer, on the call. She also noted that most WhatsApp users interact with Meta AI in one-to-one chat.

Zuckerberg said that while WhatsApp can easily access AI features, Meta has to take a different approach to stimulate its adoption of its AI products in markets such as the U.S., where most people still prefer to use their phone’s stock messaging apps to text each other. That's where the company's newly released Meta AI app is located.

“We want to be leaders over time (in the messaging market in the U.S.), but most of the others we have on WhatsApp are in different positions. So, I think in the U.S., Meta AI apps as standalone meta-AI apps will build leadership in the U.S. to build leadership – as the main personal AI that people use, but we will continue to cross those experiences.

The company said WhatsApp Business, a business platform for chat apps, is growing and accounting for a large portion of the $510 million revenue generated by its app family.

Meta has been testing the WhatsApp business’s AI tools, Li said Wednesday that the company is building a new AI agent management interface and dashboard that will enable enterprises to train Meta’s AI information. This information may include business websites, WhatsApp profiles or their Instagram and Facebook pages. It is also testing an AI chatbot that allows businesses to activate Meta in chats with customers.