Chatbot: a program you can talk to
A chatbot is a program you chat with in writing or by voice, as you would with a person. Your bank's customer service widget and ChatGPT are both chatbots, with very different abilities.
Data as of October 22, 2026
Key figures
| Level | Beginner |
|---|---|
| Origin | 1966 |
| Introduced by | Joseph Weizenbaum (ELIZA, Communications of the ACM, vol. 9, n° 1) |
A simple definition
A chatbot is conversation software. You type or say something, and it replies in everyday language. The word combines chat and bot, short for software robot. You may also see the term conversational agent.
There are two broad families:
- Scripted chatbots follow a decision tree designed in advance (“Is your question about an order, a delivery or a refund?”). They are reliable within their scope and quickly lost outside it.
- Chatbots built on a large language model understand all sorts of phrasing and write their answers on the fly. ChatGPT and Claude work this way.
An idea that dates back to 1966
ELIZA, a program described by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966, is often cited as the first well-known chatbot. Its rules were very simple: spot a keyword such as “mother” or “sad” and send back a stock question. Yet many users credited it with real understanding, which troubled its own creator. That human reflex of attributing intelligence to a machine that talks well is still with us. It echoes the question behind the Turing test: is a convincing conversation enough to prove intelligence?
Everyday examples
- Tracking a package or rescheduling an appointment through a website’s chat window.
- Asking your company’s internal tool about vacation policy.
- Asking an AI assistant to explain a confusing letter from your insurer.
Why it matters to you
Knowing which kind of chatbot you are facing changes how you should use it. A scripted bot will not understand an unusual request, so look for the “talk to an agent” option early. A generative bot will understand almost anything but can be confidently wrong, so double-check anything important (an amount, a deadline, a contract term) against an official source.
Common myths
- “A chatbot remembers everything I say.” It depends on the service: some keep no memory between sessions, others store your history.
- “Whatever it says is binding.” Not necessarily in the same way as a written document, so keep a record and get important points confirmed.
Torn between several chat assistants? The Which AI is right for me quiz points you in the right direction in a few questions.
Related terms
- AI assistant · A consumer app such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini that answers, writes, summarizes and helps with everyday tasks using AI.
- Large language model (LLM) · A program trained on huge amounts of text to predict what comes next in a text; it is the engine behind AI assistants.
- Natural language processing (NLP) · The branch of AI that lets computers read, understand, translate and generate human text and speech.
- Turing test · A test proposed by Alan Turing in 1950: a machine passes if a judge cannot tell it apart from a human in a text conversation.
- Voice assistant · An assistant you control by speaking, on a phone, smart speaker or car: it listens, works out the request and answers out loud.
Try it
Full glossary
Frequently asked questions
What was the first chatbot?
The most famous early example is ELIZA, described by MIT researcher Joseph Weizenbaum in Communications of the ACM in January 1966. It imitated a psychotherapist by turning the user's own sentences into questions, based on keywords.
Do all chatbots use generative AI?
No. Many chatbots on retail and service websites still follow fixed scripts with buttons and pre-written replies. Others run on a large language model and can answer freely, with more flexibility but also more room for error.
How can I tell if I'm talking to a person or a bot?
Simply ask: a reputable service should tell you the truth. In the European Union, the AI Act requires that people be informed when they interact with an AI system, unless it is obvious.
Data sources
Data as of October 22, 2026
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