Chatbots, often referred to as virtual agents or virtual assistants, are software applications designed to perform specific tasks or provide information in response to written or spoken requests. They serve both external customer-facing needs and internal employee-facing requests, allowing users to interact with applications in a conversational manner, either textually or audibly. Chatbots typically employ natural language processing (NLP) or speech recognition to understand user inputs. However, their primary operations are driven by scripted conversations. This contrasts with intelligent virtual assistants, which utilize natural language understanding (NLU) to conduct more sophisticated, human-like interactions. Businesses use chatbot technology to automate tasks that previously required human intervention. Upon receiving a user request, a chatbot processes the input and provides a response in text or speech form. Chatbots are integrated into various customer support tools, such as live chat software, help desk software, and contact center software, often acting as the first point of contact. Their use is expanding into other areas, including sales and marketing knowledge bases. In business intelligence applications, chatbots can replace query languages, enabling users to obtain specific data points simply by typing or speaking a request. The capabilities of chatbots are continuously growing, and they are being incorporated into an increasing variety of software applications.
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