Glossary
What is AI Chatbot?
A conversational program that answers questions and helps people complete tasks in plain language, now often built on a large language model.
In plain words
A chatbot is software that talks with people in everyday language, on a website, in an app or on a messaging service. Early chatbots followed fixed scripts and menus. Newer ones are built on language models and can handle questions phrased in many ways.
Types
- Rule-based: fixed questions and answers. Predictable and cheap, but rigid
- Language-model based: flexible and conversational, but needs guardrails and testing
- Hybrid: fixed flows for important steps such as payments, with a model for open questions
What makes one good
- It answers from approved company content and shows where from
- It knows its limits and hands over to a person smoothly
- It works in the languages your customers use, including mixed languages
- It does not ask for or store more personal data than needed
- It is measured: how many questions it solved, and how many it got wrong
Common mistakes
- No route to a human when the bot is stuck
- Letting it answer from the open internet instead of approved content
- Not testing in the languages and phrasing real customers use
- Launching with no way to review the conversations that went badly
Questions to ask a company that offers this
- What content will it answer from, and how is it kept up to date?
- How does it hand a conversation to a person?
- Which languages and mixed-language messages have you tested?
- How will you measure how many questions it solves and how many it gets wrong?
- Where are the chat records stored, and for how long?
A good company will answer these plainly and in writing. Vague or evasive answers are worth noting.
Related terms
Find companies
Explanation last read through on 13 October 2026. It is general guidance in plain language, not advice for your particular project. Tell us if something is wrong or unclear.