chatbot

noun

chat·​bot ˈchat-ˌbät 

plural chatbots

: a bot (see bot entry 1 sense 3) that is designed to converse with human beings

Chatbots … have been around for years, mostly to answer generic questions over the phone or on a website.

—Dalvin Brown

The challenge is to create a chatbot that can converse coherently and engagingly with humans on popular topics for 20 minutes.

—Marc Saltzman

Examples of chatbot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There are also numerous reports of AI systems causing dramatic malfunctions, for instance when mental health chatbots increase the risk of harm to the user. —Henry Papadatos, TIME, 10 Feb. 2025

Although the assistant has been around for a decade, Amazon has struggled to keep up with chatbot competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. —Julian Chokkattu, WIRED, 8 Feb. 2025

Another reader asked me to have the chatbots look into the energy usage of generative AI, taking into account scenarios ranging from rapid decarbonization to a continued heavy reliance on fossil fuels. —Ina Fried, Axios, 7 Feb. 2025

But that hasn’t stopped many people from trying out chatbots for sentimental communications. —Allie Volpe, Vox, 1 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

chat entry 1 + bot entry 1

First Known Use

1994, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

chatbot

noun

chat·​bot

ˈchat-ˌbät

: a bot that is designed to converse with human beings