Glossary · AI and automation
What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is software that holds a text conversation with a person, usually in a website widget or messaging app. Rule-based chatbots follow scripted flows and keyword triggers; AI chatbots use language models to understand free-form questions and generate replies. In customer support, chatbots answer common questions and route the rest to people.
Chatbot, explained
The term covers a wide range. At one end are decision-tree bots: buttons such as “Track my order” or “Talk to sales” that lead down fixed paths, sometimes with keyword matching for typed messages. They are predictable and cheap to run, but they break as soon as a customer phrases something the designer did not anticipate.
At the other end are AI chatbots built on large language models. They understand free-form questions, handle follow-ups and can write answers from a knowledge base. That flexibility is also the risk: without grounding in approved sources and a clear fallback, an AI chatbot can produce fluent answers that are wrong.
Many support chatbots combine both: scripted flows for high-stakes steps such as identity checks or lead forms, and AI answers for open questions. Whatever the approach, the parts customers notice most are whether the answer is right, whether the bot admits when it does not know, and how quickly they can reach a person.
A chatbot is a channel, not a strategy. It works when it is fed accurate content, measured on real outcomes and reviewed regularly.
Common mistake
How SuperBot relates
SuperBot is an AI chatbot for customer support that answers from your approved knowledge, shows a source label when matched knowledge supports the answer, and hands the chat to a human when confidence is low.
Test it on your own questions.
SuperBot trains on your content, answers with citations and hands off to your team. The free plan includes 200 conversations a month, no card required.