Definition of "chatbot"

To deal with a large number of typical queries, “chatbots” technology should be considered. A chatbot can be defined as an intelligent evolution of email. The chatbot categorizes messages on the fly and provides answers to questions accordingly. As such, it can be used as a customer support tool.

2000, Handbook on Electronic Commerce‎, Springer, page 59

Wolfram Alpha researcher and chatbot author Robert Lockhart describes the chatbot community as being split between two competing approaches, what he calls “pure semantics” and “pure empiricism.”

2012, Brian Christian, The Most Human Human […] , Anchor Books, page 29

Chatbot technology, of course, dates back to Weizenbaum’s early experiments with his Eliza program.

2015, John Markoff, Machines of Loving Grace […] , New York: Ecco Press, page 221

Mr. Aumann confronted his student over whether he had written the essay himself. The student confessed to using ChatGPT, a chatbot that delivers information, explains concepts and generates ideas in simple sentences — and, in this case, had written the paper.

2023 January 16, Kalley Huang, “Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach”, in The New York Times‎