What is a Chatbot?

What it is: A chatbot is a computer program you can talk to in plain English. It reads what you type and writes back.
Who it’s for: Beginners who want to understand chatbots vs AI agents
Best if: You’ve used ChatGPT once and want to know what it’s called
Skip if: You already build or manage chatbots daily

A chatbot is like texting with a very fast helper. You type a question. It types an answer. That’s it.

Some chatbots are simple. They just answer easy questions (“What are your store hours?”). Other chatbots are smart. They can write stories, help you study, fix your homework, or plan a trip. The smart ones use AI.

Types of chatbots

• Rule-based chatbots. Old-school. They follow a set list of questions and answers. If you ask something off their list, they can’t help.
• AI chatbots. New-school. They use AI models. They can answer almost anything, but sometimes they get things wrong.

Chatbot vs AI agent

A chatbot only talks. An AI agent can also do things. A chatbot might tell you what restaurants are open. An AI agent could book a table for you. Agents are chatbots with hands.

Examples

• ChatGPT — the most popular AI chatbot
• Claude — great for writing and reading long things
• Gemini — Google’s AI chatbot
• Customer service bots — the little chat boxes on shopping websites

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