chatbot

noun

chat·​bot ˈchat-ˌbät 

plural chatbots

: a bot (see bot entry 1 sense 3) that is designed to converse with human beings

Chatbots … have been around for years, mostly to answer generic questions over the phone or on a website.

—Dalvin Brown

The challenge is to create a chatbot that can converse coherently and engagingly with humans on popular topics for 20 minutes.

—Marc Saltzman

Examples of chatbot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Anthropic wanted assurances from the Pentagon that its AI chatbot would not be used for mass domestic surveillance or to operate fully autonomous weapons. —Mike Brest, The Washington Examiner, 25 Mar. 2026

The chatbot starts with questions about a final group project and drills into details based on each student’s answers. —Jocelyn Gecker, Fortune, 25 Mar. 2026

Analyses of the Grok chatbot have found that its language often mimics that of the man behind its development, Elon Musk. —Vauhini Vara, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026

According to the indictment, the 31-year-old took advice from an artificial intelligence chatbot. —Michael Guise, CBS News, 24 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

chat entry 1 + bot entry 1

First Known Use

1994, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

chatbot

noun

chat·​bot ˈchat-ˌbät 

: a bot that is designed to converse with human beings