What is a Chatbot? - Definition & Meaning
Discover what a chatbot is, what types of chatbots exist, and how businesses use chatbots for customer service, lead generation, and internal automation.
Definition
A chatbot is a software program that conducts automated conversations with users via text or voice. Chatbots range from simple rule-based systems with fixed responses to advanced AI chatbots that understand natural language and generate dynamic answers.
Technical explanation
Chatbots can be classified into three generations: rule-based chatbots that work with if-then decision trees and keyword matching, intent-based chatbots that use NLP to recognize user intent (e.g., via Dialogflow or Rasa), and LLM-based chatbots that use large language models for free-form conversation. Modern AI chatbots often combine multiple techniques: an LLM for language understanding and generation, RAG for retrieving up-to-date information, function calling for executing actions (such as looking up an order), and sentiment analysis for detecting customer satisfaction. The architecture includes a messaging interface (webchat, Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp), an NLU pipeline for language processing, a dialog manager for conversation flow, and backend integration with business systems. Critical metrics include first-response accuracy, containment rate, escalation rate, and customer satisfaction (CSAT).
How OpenClaw Installeren applies this
OpenClaw Installeren provides a turnkey solution for deploying AI chatbots on your own infrastructure. Our platform installs and configures a complete chatbot stack on a Europese cloud VPS, including connections to Telegram, Discord, and your own website. The chatbot is fed with your knowledge base and ready to use immediately after installation.
Practical examples
- An e-commerce chatbot that helps customers find products, checks order status via an API integration, and answers frequently asked questions about shipping and returns.
- A restaurant chatbot on WhatsApp that allows guests to book a table, view the menu, and communicate dietary requirements — fully automated.
- An IT helpdesk chatbot that handles first-line support questions like password resets and VPN issues, only escalating complex tickets to a human agent.
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Frequently asked questions
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