Foundations
Chatbot
A conversational interface that answers questions but does not change anything in your systems.
The distinction between a chatbot and an agent is whether it can do things.
A chatbot retrieves and explains: opening hours, order status, policy documents. Useful, low risk, and comparatively easy to deploy — the worst case is a wrong answer.
An agent creates the order, issues the refund, books the slot. The worst case is a wrong action, which is a different order of problem.
Most "AI" products sold to businesses are chatbots. That is not a criticism — plenty of problems only need a chatbot. But it is worth knowing which you are buying, because the engineering, the risk and the price should all differ.
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