Chatbot

A chatbot is an AI program designed to have conversations with people through text (and increasingly through voice). You type a message, and the chatbot types back a response. Modern chatbots powered by large language models can hold remarkably natural conversations, answer questions on almost any topic, help with tasks like writing and coding, and even display what seems like personality and humor.

Chatbots have been around for decades, but they used to be terrible. Older chatbots followed rigid scripts -- if your question did not match a pre-programmed pattern, you got a useless response. The revolution came with large language models. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are all chatbots, but they are worlds apart from the clunky bots of the past because they can understand context, handle follow-up questions, and generate responses that feel genuinely conversational.

Today's chatbots serve many purposes. Consumer chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude are general-purpose assistants that can help with homework, brainstorm ideas, write code, plan trips, and much more. Business chatbots handle customer service, answering common questions and resolving issues without human agents. Specialized chatbots serve specific domains like healthcare, legal advice, or financial planning.

The line between a "chatbot" and an "AI assistant" is blurry. Technically, ChatGPT is a chatbot because it works through conversation. But it can also write code, analyze data, generate images, and browse the web -- capabilities that go far beyond traditional chatbot territory. The term "chatbot" is evolving as these systems become more powerful.