AI glossary · Agents
Chatbot
In one sentence
A chatbot is a program that holds text conversations with people, on a website or on WhatsApp, to answer questions or guide them through a task. It either follows fixed rules or uses a language model to understand what people write.
Also known as: chat bot · conversational bot · bot · chatterbot
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is the best-known way of automating a conversation. It lives in a text channel, such as a website chat, WhatsApp or Messenger, and its job is to answer: opening hours, prices, order status, how to book.
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It replies to customers on WhatsApp and logs every conversation in the CRM.
See the WhatsApp agentThere are two broad families:
| Type | How it replies | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rule-based | Menus, buttons and keywords | Predictable and cheap | Gets lost when the customer goes off script |
| AI-powered | A language model interprets the message | Understands free-form text | Can get things wrong without limits or data |
The word often gets used as a catch-all, so it helps to separate it from its neighbours. A virtual assistant is a broader chatbot that helps one person with many tasks. An AI agent also takes actions with real tools, such as booking a slot in your calendar.
Related to this term
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- CRM and shared inbox included
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See the WhatsApp agentHow it works
- Receive the user’s message.
- Interpret what they want: by matching keywords in rule-based bots, or by detecting the intent with a model in AI ones.
- Pick a reply: a canned sentence, the next step in a conversation flow, or text generated from your business data, often through RAG.
- Reply and wait for the next message, or pass the conversation to a person.
Where most chatbots fall down is the exit: what happens when they don’t know. A well-built one admits it and triggers a human handoff instead of going round in circles.
Example
A language school in Manchester gets the same WhatsApp questions every September: fees, levels, timetables. A chatbot answers them instantly, at any hour, and asks for a name and level from anyone who wants a placement test. When someone asks about something it doesn’t cover, such as employer funding, the conversation goes to the office with the full history attached.
Chatbots at UTIO
UTIO’s WhatsApp agent goes further than a chatbot: as well as replying, every conversation creates a contact record in the CRM, enters the pipeline and can end in an appointment, a quote or a ticket. The inbox is shared by the team and every conversation has an owner.
AI is optional and gradual: you can run it with no AI, just as an inbox and CRM, or in ask-first, draft or automatic mode. That way you decide how much it handles alone and when a person steps in.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a chatbot and ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a general-purpose assistant built on a language model. A business chatbot is narrower: it answers about one company, on one channel, and is limited to what that company allows it to say.
Does a chatbot need artificial intelligence?
No. Classic chatbots run on menus and rules: if the customer picks 1, reply A. AI chatbots understand free-form messages, but they need clear limits and a knowledge base so they don't make things up.
Can I put a chatbot on WhatsApp?
Yes, through the WhatsApp Business API or tools that connect to your number. Make sure conversations are logged and that a person can take over when needed.
Related terms
- Virtual assistant
A virtual assistant is AI software that helps a person, or a company's customers, with a range of tasks by text or voice: it answers questions, keeps track of the conversation and handles simple jobs such as booking an appointment.
- AI agent
An AI agent is a system that uses a language model to understand a request, decide which steps to take and carry them out with real tools, such as your calendar or CRM, until the task is done rather than just replying.
- Conversational AI
Conversational AI is the set of technologies that let a machine hold a conversation in natural language, by text or voice: understand what is said, keep track of the context and reply in a coherent way.
- Conversation flow
A conversation flow is the predefined path of an automated conversation: the steps, questions and replies a bot follows depending on what the user answers, usually drawn as a branching diagram.
- Human handoff
Human handoff is the point at which a chatbot or AI agent passes the conversation to a member of staff, together with the context it has gathered, because the case needs it, a rule requires it or the customer asks for it.
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