Chatbot
A program you talk to by typing or speaking, which answers in ordinary language. Many modern chatbots run on a large language model.
A chatbot is any computer program built for conversation. Older chatbots followed fixed scripts: they recognised certain keywords and picked a prepared answer. Newer ones, such as the AI assistants many people now use, are powered by a large language model and can respond to almost anything you type.
You may meet one on a shop's website when you ask where your parcel is, or use one at home to help plan a week of meals. You type a question, which is called a prompt, and it writes back.
A chatbot can sound friendly and sure of itself, but it is not a person and does not understand you the way a friend would. It can get facts wrong. Avoid sharing private details such as passwords or health records unless you know how the service stores your conversations.
Related: Large language model (LLM), Prompt, AI agent