A software program that holds a conversation with people through text or voice, answering questions or helping complete simple tasks.
Early chatbots followed scripted rules and keyword matching, so they handled only narrow, predictable questions. Modern chatbots often use large language models, which let them understand varied phrasing and generate more natural replies.
A typical small-business example is a website chat widget for a dental clinic that answers questions about opening hours, accepted insurance, and parking, then offers a link to book an appointment. Chatbots can reduce repetitive enquiries and provide help outside business hours. Their limits matter, though: they can give wrong answers, especially when they lack accurate business information, and customers get frustrated when they cannot reach a person. Good deployments connect the chatbot to verified content and provide a clear route to human staff.
A software system that uses an AI model to plan and carry out multi-step tasks, often by calling tools, APIs, or other programs on its own.
Large Language ModelAn AI model trained on vast amounts of text to understand and generate human-like language, code, and other content.
Natural Language ProcessingA field of AI focused on enabling computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language.
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