What are chatbots & how do you use them?

Chatbots are most commonly used on business websites. When you have spent a couple of minutes on a website, you can see a chat or voice messaging prompt pop up on the screen. Those are chatbots. Chatbots had a humble start as computer programs that used keywords and pattern matching to respond to users’ questions based on a pre-written script.

Are chatbots a conversational AI platform?

Though not all chatbots are equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), modern chatbots increasingly use conversational AI techniques like natural language processing (NLP) to understand the user’s questions and automate responses to them. IBM named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Enterprise Conversational AI Platforms.

Are chatbots the same as a phone tree?

That phone tree is also a chatbot, though a very primitive one. Modern chatbots do the same thing by holding a conversation with customers. This conversation may be in the form of text, voice or a hybrid of both. Chatbots are primarily used to enhance customer experience by offering 24/7 customer support, but in a cost-effective manner.

What is a limited chatbot?

A chatbot that functions with a set of guidelines in place is limited in its conversation. It can only respond to a set number of requests and vocabulary and is only as intelligent as its programming code. An example of a limited bot is an automated banking bot that asks the caller some questions to understand what the caller wants to do.