The technology
Conversational AI is the general term for software that holds a conversation in ordinary language, by voice or in writing, and acts on what is said. It covers chatbots, voice agents and phone assistants. The defining feature is that the person never learns a command set: they say what they want.
Also called: Conversational artificial intelligence · Natural language interface
A chatbot is one form of conversational AI, usually text in a website widget and often working from a decision tree. Conversational AI is the wider category, and current systems answer from a language model instead of a script. The word chatbot now mostly signals the older, scripted kind.
Last checked 2026-09-23
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