Chatbots and Conversational AI: A Glossary

Part of the Five Stones knowledge base - 33 terms on chatbots and conversational AI, in plain English.

Part of the Five Stones knowledge base - 33 terms on chatbots and conversational ai, in plain English.

Chatbot - A software tool that holds a text (or voice) conversation with a customer, answering questions or completing simple tasks like booking.
Conversational AI - AI systems built specifically for natural back-and-forth dialogue with a person, the technology underneath most modern chatbots.
Rule-based chatbot - An older style of chatbot that follows a fixed decision tree ("press 1 for...") rather than genuinely understanding free-form language.
AI chatbot - A chatbot powered by a language model, able to understand a question phrased in many different ways rather than only exact matches.
Personalised chatbot - A chatbot trained specifically on a business's own tone, information and processes, rather than a generic off-the-shelf script.
Live chat - A real-time chat window on a website, which may be staffed by a human, an AI, or both depending on the time and complexity.
Chat widget - The small chat box that appears on a website or app for a customer to start a conversation.
NLP (Natural Language Processing) - The branch of AI that lets a computer understand human language as it is actually written or spoken, including typos and slang.
NLU (Natural Language Understanding) - The part of NLP specifically focused on grasping the meaning and intent behind what someone says, not just the words.
Intent recognition - How a chatbot works out what a customer actually wants (e.g. "book an appointment" vs "ask about pricing") from their message.
Entity extraction - Pulling out specific useful details from a message, like a date, a phone number or a product name, so the system can act on them.
Conversation flow - The planned structure of how a chatbot conversation should progress from greeting to resolution.
Fallback response - What a chatbot says when it cannot understand or handle a request, ideally handing off to a human rather than repeating itself.
Handoff (to a human) - The point where a chatbot passes a conversation over to a staff member, usually for something too complex or sensitive to automate.
Voice AI / Voice bot - A conversational AI that operates over a phone call or voice assistant instead of text.
Speech-to-text - Technology that converts spoken audio into written text, used by voice bots and dictation tools.
Text-to-speech - Technology that converts written text into spoken audio, used by voice bots to "talk" back to a caller.
WhatsApp Business API - The official way for a business to connect automated messaging, including chatbots, to WhatsApp at scale.
Omnichannel messaging - Being able to message a customer consistently across multiple platforms (WhatsApp, website chat, Instagram) from one connected system.
Chat transcript - The saved written record of a conversation between a customer and a chatbot or agent, often used to improve the bot over time.
Sentiment analysis - AI that reads a message and judges whether the tone is positive, negative or neutral, used to flag upset customers automatically.
Response time - How long it takes for a customer's message to receive a reply, one of the most searched metrics in this whole category because it is the one that most directly loses or wins business.
First response time (FRT) - Specifically the time to the very first reply on a new enquiry, often the single biggest predictor of whether that enquiry converts.
24/7 availability - A system (usually a chatbot) that can respond to customers at any hour, including nights, weekends and holidays.
Chat automation platform - Software specifically built to design, deploy and manage chatbots across a business's channels.
Custom-trained chatbot - A chatbot built and trained using a specific business's own documents, FAQs and past conversations, rather than generic internet data.
Conversation design - The craft of writing how a chatbot should ask questions and respond, so it feels natural rather than robotic.
Multi-turn conversation - A conversation where the AI remembers earlier messages in the same session, rather than treating each message as unrelated.
Session (chatbot session) - One continuous conversation between a customer and a chatbot, usually reset after a period of inactivity.
Bot persona - The defined tone, name and personality a chatbot is given so it feels consistent with the brand it represents.
Appointment booking bot - A chatbot specifically built to check availability and confirm bookings without a human coordinating the calendar.
Lead qualification bot - A chatbot that asks a set of questions to work out whether an enquiry is a serious, ready-to-buy prospect before it reaches a salesperson.
FAQ bot - A simple chatbot focused on answering commonly asked questions, usually the first and easiest AI tool a business adopts.

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