Chatbot

A chatbot (also known as a chatterbot, talkbot, chatbot, Bot, chatterbox, Artificial Conversational Entity) is a computer program which conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods.

Such programs are often designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner, thereby passing the Turing test. Chatbots are typically used in dialog systems for various practical purposes including customer service or information acquisition.

Some chatbots use sophisticated natural language processing systems, but many simpler systems scan for keywords within the input, then pull a reply with the most matching keywords, or the most similar wording pattern, from a database.

The term "ChatterBot" was originally coined by Michael Mauldin (creator of the first Verbot, Julia) in 1994 to describe these conversational programs.

There are two main types of chatbots, one functions based on a set of rules, and the other more advanced version uses artificial intelligence.

• The chatbots based on rules, tend to be limited in functionality, and are as smart as they are programmed to be.
• On the other end, chatbots that use artificial intelligence, understands language, not just commands, and continuously gets smarter as it learns from conversations it has with people.

External links

• Chatterbox @ Wikipedia
• See Bots Chat