What Is a Chatbot and How Does It Work?

Learn the difference between rule-based chatbots and AI-powered ones, and where you encounter them daily.

In this guide (4 steps):

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Rule-based bots follow scripts ("press 1 for billing"). AI chatbots understand natural language and can handle open-ended conversations.

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Customer support widgets, banking apps, healthcare portals, and shopping sites all use chatbots to handle common questions.

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They're trained on massive amounts of text data, learning patterns in language to predict helpful responses to your questions.

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Be clear and specific. If a chatbot can't help, ask for a human agent. Most support chatbots have an escalation option.

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