The best AI chatbots of 2024: ChatGPT, Copilot, and worthy alternatives

The terms chatbot, AI chatbot and virtual agent are often used interchangeably, which can cause confusion. While the technologies these terms refer to are closely related, subtle distinctions yield important differences in their respective capabilities. Google was only too keen to point out its role in developing the technology during its announcement of Google Bard. But ChatGPT was the AI chatbot that took the concept mainstream, earning it another multi-billion investment from Microsoft, which said that it was as important as the invention of the PC and the internet. The AI bot, developed by OpenAI and based on a Large Language Model (or LLM), continues to grow in terms of its scope and its intelligence.

This one’s obvious, but no discussion of chatbots can be had without first mentioning the breakout hit from OpenAI. Ever since its launch in November of 2022, ChatGPT has made the idea of AI text generation go mainstream. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. No longer was this a research project — it became a viral hit, quickly becoming the fastest-growing tech application of all time, boasting over 100 million users in just a couple of months. The power and accuracy of the natural language chatbot is the main draw, but the fact that it was made free to try for anyone was important too. It allows you to create both rules-based and intent-based chatbots, with the latter using AI and NLP to recognize user intent, process information, and provide a human-like conversational experience. Powered by GPT-3.5, Perplexity is an AI chatbot that acts as a conversational search engine.

Gemini has improved since I reviewed it back in April, although it still hallucinates. In my recent testing, for example, Gemini made up the name of a college professor and the name of an Adult Swim executive. And it simply refuses to answer heavier political questions, as does Microsoft’s Copilot. In addition to providing on-demand support, Woebot Health offers evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy content, personalized care plans, and mobile access. It can help users create personalized meal plans and recipes or generate to-do checklists.

An AI chatbot with the most advanced large language models (LLMs) available in one place for easy experimentation and access. The chatbot can also provide technical assistance with answers to anything you input, including math, coding, translating, and writing prompts. Because You.com isn’t as popular as other chatbots, a huge plus is that you can hop on any time and ask away without delays.

If you’re happy to spend some time doing that, though, it’ll be much more helpful for personal development than a more general-use tool like ChatGPT or Claude. It’s a little more general use than the build-it-yourself business/brand-focused chatbot offered by Chat GPT Personal AI, however, so don’t expect the same capabilities. The large language model powering Pi is made up of over 30 billion parameters, which means it’s a lot smaller than ChatGPT, Gemini, and even Grok – but it just isn’t built for the same purpose.

Related AI chatbot guides

These are rule-based chatbots that you can use to capture contact information, interact with customers, or pause the automation feature to transfer the communication to the agent. ChatGPT is built on GPT-3.5, a robust LLM (Large Language Model) that produces some impressive natural language conversations. It is capped at knowledge from up to 2021, though, so it can’t access information that’s based on events after that. However, ChatGPT is particularly good at creative texts, so if you’re asking it to write stories or imagine scenarios, it’s remarkably good. Until it’s dethroned, ChatGPT will remain the go-to option for experimenting with AI chatbots, whether to speed up workflows or just to have some fun. If enhancing customer service is your primary goal, a customer support chatbot designed to handle FAQs, like Zara’s chatbot, can resolve queries instantly.

The bot texts late sleepers with friendly messages, keeping them company when they’re struggling to sleep. Its user-friendly interface and conversations keep users engaged and coming back for more. Explore chatbot design for streamlined and efficient experiences within messaging apps while overcoming design challenges.

The customizable templates, NLP capabilities, and integration options make it a user-friendly option for businesses of all sizes. I then tested its ability to answer inquiries and make suggestions by asking the chatbot to send me information about inexpensive, highly-rated hotels in Miami. For example, an overly positive response to a customer’s disappointment could come off as dismissive and too robotic. Customer chats can and will often include typos, especially if the customer is focused on getting answers quickly and doesn’t consider reviewing every message before hitting send.

Two main technologies used in AI chatbots are natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). NLP is responsible for understanding the message and its context, whereas ML helps to predict future inquiries and act based on the collected data. Ada is a virtual shopping assistant that helps you create a personalized and automated customer experience using one of the best AI chatbots for website. It provides an easy-to-use chatbot builder and ensures good user engagement in multiple languages. Lyro is a conversational AI chatbot created with small and medium businesses in mind.

Character.AI users can have entertaining “conversations” with their favorite stars and characters, individually or in a group. For example, users can have a one-on-one chat with Socrates or have a group chat with all the members of The Avengers. Users can also create their own characters and personalities and make them available for chats with other Character.AI users. They can even design bots for specific uses, such as a generative AI host that leads a text-based adventure game.

You can build your bot and then publish it across 15 channels (WhatsApp, Kik, Twitter, etc.). It also offers 50+ languages, so you don’t have to worry about anything if your business is international. Your customers are most likely going to be able to communicate with your chatbot.

It expands the search capabilities by combining the top results of your search query to give you a single, detailed response. It can also guide you through the HubSpot app and give you tips on how to best use its tools. You can input your own queries or use one of ChatSpot’s many prompt templates, which can help you find solutions for content writing, research, SEO, prospecting, and more. Businesses of all sizes that use Salesforce and need a chatbot to help them get the most out of their CRM.

It’s predicted that 95% of customer interactions will be powered by chatbots by 2025. So get a head start and go through the top chatbot platforms to see what they’ve got to offer. Paradox is a recruitment app providing AI-powered chatbots to support global customers with their hiring needs. It streamlines workflows, such as screening resumes, scheduling interviews, and more. The AI chatbot also answers candidates’ questions and manages onboarding communications.

Chatbot persona: What it is + how to create one

While conversational AI chatbots can digest a users’ questions or comments and generate a human-like response, generative AI chatbots can take this a step further by generating new content as the output. This new content can include high-quality text, images and sound based on the LLMs they are trained on. Chatbot interfaces with generative AI can recognize, summarize, translate, predict and create content in response to a user’s query without the need for human interaction. A chatbot is a computer program that simulates human conversation with an end user.

Online chatbots are specifically designed to save time, answer queries and accomplish more interactive communication instantly. After ChatGPT’s launch, some of the biggest names in technology including Google and Microsoft have jumped into the industry with their full-fledged AI smart chatbots. In our next section, we will look at the workings, challenges, and future of chatbots.

For example, Sephora piloted its booking chatbot on a small scale, gathered user feedback, and iterated on the design before launching it across all platforms. This approach allows for refining the chatbot’s functionality based on real user interactions. These chatbots analyze the user’s input for specific keywords or phrases to determine the response, bridging the gap between simple rule-based and advanced AI systems. Chatbot usage has rapidly gained popularity in the digital landscape, revolutionizing industries and the way businesses interact with their customers. Recently, Snapchat has introduced a fully functional AI chatbot that has been well received by the public. Future of chatbot is anticipated to become more intelligent, versatile, and easily integrated into a wide array of online experiences in very little time.

This is one of the best AI chatbot platforms that assists the sales and customer support teams. It will give you insights into your customers, their past interactions, orders, etc., so you can make better-informed decisions. It uses natural language processing (NLP) technology to break down sentences into smaller components understandable for machines. This way, the system can analyze the meaning of the input and generate responses. The software also uses machine learning to recognize previously analyzed patterns and learn over time.

To provide a reasonable response, a remarkable pattern must be available in the database for each type of question. Finally, the action handler module accepts an action as input and executes it appropriately. This is advantageous because the same action may be carried out in many ways depending on the agent’s surroundings.

Users can customize their search by adding sources like Google Scholar, X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, or custom URLs. Users can also customize AI personas and link knowledge bases ZenoChat bots can use during conversations. With an open licensing framework, users can access some of the code, allowing them to customize the model to fit business needs (until reaching a high revenue limit). Pi features a minimalistic interface and a “Discover” tab that offers icebreakers and conversation starters. Though Pi is more for personal use rather than for business applications, it can assist with problem-solving discussions. The Discover section allows users to select conversation types, such as motivational talks or venting sessions.

Jasper Chat

You can also use a visual builder interface and Tidio chatbot templates when building your bot to see it grow with every input you make. Chatbot platforms can help small businesses that are often short of customer support staff. This is one of the ChatGPT alternatives that’s engaging and uses a supportive voice to communicate with people. It can’t write articles or other content, but it’s a great tool to chat with and offers a fresh user experience. Keep up with emerging trends in customer service and learn from top industry experts.

The GPT 3.5 data set doesn’t extend past the end of 2022, so some information may not be current. It might lack real-world knowledge and struggle with understanding context, leading to occasional irrelevant responses. Additionally, it can be susceptible to generating biased or inaccurate responses when prompted to do so. Since its launch, ChatGPT has rolled out new iterations of the original intent model, such as GPT-3.5 (available for free plans). GPT-4, which includes additional performance capabilities, is accessible starting at $20 per user per month.

Best AI chatbot if you’re a loyal Google user

Modern AI chatbots now use natural language understanding (NLU) to discern the meaning of open-ended user input, overcoming anything from typos to translation issues. Advanced AI tools then map that meaning to the specific “intent” the user wants the chatbot to act upon and use conversational AI to formulate an appropriate response. This sophistication, drawing upon recent advancements in large language models (LLMs), has led to increased customer satisfaction and more versatile chatbot applications. To find the best chatbots for small businesses we analyzed the leading providers in the space across a number of metrics.

It interacts with users in a conversational way, and it’s able to answer follow-up questions thanks to its dialog format. It can also reject inappropriate requests, which helps to keep the system from learning the wrong user inputs. The future of smart chatbots will focus on developing conversational AI that simulates human-like conversations and displays emotional intelligence. Chatbots will learn to recognize and respond appropriately to user emotions, displaying empathy and understanding.

Domino’s launched a chatbot on Facebook Messenger that allows customers to order food with just a few clicks. The bot syncs customers with their Google accounts, enabling them to order their favorite dishes from any device. From crust types to toppings, Dom recommends what kind of pizza you’d relish, based on your past preferences and history. When Uber’s global head of social media faced the massive task of improving customer care for riders and drivers around the world, they knew Uber needed to change its perspective. The brand palpably needed a platform designed to unify customer interactions and brand content — all the while boosting its safety monitoring. They can also collect data on customer preferences and behavior, which can be used to personalize marketing efforts.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is leading the way in the generative AI revolution, quickly attracting millions of users, and promising to change the way we create and work. In many ways, this feels like another iPhone moment, as a new product makes a momentous difference to the technology landscape. Genesys DX comes with a dynamic search bar, resource management, knowledge base, and smart routing. This can help you use it to its full potential when making, deploying, and utilizing the bot. This is one of the top chatbot companies and it comes with a drag-and-drop interface. You can also use predefined templates, like ‘thank you for your order‘ for a quicker setup.

Eno uses AI to understand customers’ requests and respond in a conversational tone. According to Uber, their chatbot has helped increase their sales and improve customer satisfaction. They report that their chatbot has handled millions of conversations with customers. H&M’s Kik chatbot provides fashion advice and recommendations to its users. The chatbot uses NLP to understand the user’s requests and provide personalized styling tips.

What sets LivePerson apart is its focus on self-learning and Natural Language Understanding (NLU). It also offers features such as engagement insights, which help businesses understand how to best engage with their customers. With its Conversational Cloud, businesses can create bots and message flows without ever having to code. Enhance your marketing and sales strategy with chatbots designed to engage prospects through personalized recommendations and interactive content.

KLM’s chatbot, BlueBot, is a successful implementation of conversation AI technology that has helped increase customer engagement, loyalty, and satisfaction for the brand. Its integration with KLM’s customer support system allows customers to book tickets via Facebook Messenger, without agent intervention. The arrival of a new ChatGPT API for businesses means we’ll soon likely to see an explosion of apps that are built around the AI chatbot. In the pipeline are ChatGPT-powered app features from the likes of Shopify (and its Shop app) and Instacart. The dating app OKCupid has also started dabbling with in-app questions that have been created by OpenAI’s chatbot. The ‘chat’ naturally refers to the chatbot front-end that OpenAI has built for its GPT language model.

Jasper’s AI bot ensures content adherence to a brand’s voice and style while providing access to background information about the company for factual accuracy. It offers suggestions for content improvement and automated project management, enhancing transparency and efficiency in content generation tasks. Perplexity.ai has its fair share of limitations and may occasionally generate factually inaccurate results. So, you might also end up with sentences that sound good statistically but include wrong information. Perplexity.ai may have issues understanding nuances of human language, such as sarcasm, humor, and cultural context, which can work for academic use cases but isn’t as effective for casual conversations.

Copilot is the best ChatGPT alternative as it has almost all the same benefits. Copilot is free to use, and getting started is as easy as visiting the Copilot standalone website. In February 2023, Microsoft unveiled a new AI-improved Bing, now known as Copilot. This tool runs on GPT-4 Turbo, which means that Copilot has the same intelligence as ChatGPT, which runs on GPT-4o. 🛍️ Seamlessly guide customers from curiosity to checkout with precise product recommendations.

Of course, the catch to all this is that you’ll need to download the latest version of the Edge browser. That’s a shame, as are the fairly tight restrictions on how many sessions you can have per day. Compared to the more straightforward ChatGPT, Bing Chat is the most accessible and user-friendly version of an AI chatbot you can get. When needed, it can also transfer conversations to live customer service reps, ensuring a smooth handoff while providing information the bot gathered during the interaction. Keep in mind that HubSpot‘s chat builder software doesn’t quite fall under the “AI chatbot” category of “AI chatbot” because it uses a rule-based system.

E-commerce chatbots help brands to grow their revenue using conversational commerce. They provide personalized product recommendations, assist customers with purchases and answer frequently asked product questions, helping online https://chat.openai.com/ retailers multiply sales exponentially. The most powerful chatbot is subjective and depends on your criteria— language processing capabilities, user engagement, or task complexity.

Although Pi may not have obvious productivity applications, its focus on personal well-being sets it apart. Additionally, Copy.ai leverages web scraping to pull and incorporate information from the web so users receive relevant and up-to-date content. Copy.ai offers multiple user seats and shareable project folders for team collaboration. The free plan lets individual users access 2,000-word chats, while the Starter plan unlocks unlimited chats for $36 per user/month. ChatSonic also integrates with platforms like X and Slack to provide access to Chatsonic across different channels. Users can access limited features through a free plan or purchase Chatsonic for $12 per user/month.

Another advantage of the upgraded ChatGPT is its availability to the public at no cost. Despite its immense popularity and major upgrade, ChatGPT remains free, making it an incredible resource for students, writers, and professionals who need a reliable AI chatbot. As ZDNET’s David Gewirtz unpacked in his hands-on article, you may not want to depend on HuggingChat as your go-to primary chatbot. While there are plenty of great options on the market, if you need a chatbot that serves your specific use case, you can always build a new one that’s entirely customizable. HuggingChat is an open-source chatbot developed by Hugging Face that can be used as a regular chatbot or customized for your needs. One of the biggest standout features is that you can toggle between the most popular AI models on the market using the Custom Model Selector.

The chatbot platform comes with an SDK tool to put chats on iOS and Android apps. This AI chatbots platform comes with NLP (Natural Language Processing), and Machine Learning technologies. Design the conversations however you like, they can be simple, multiple-choice, or based on action buttons. ManyChat is a cloud-based chatbot solution for chat marketing campaigns through social media platforms and text messaging. There are also many integrations available, such as Google Sheets, Shopify, MailChimp, Facebook Ad Campaign, etc. This conversational chatbot platform offers seamless third-party integration with ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, automation platforms such as Zapier or its alternatives, and many more.

With a virtual agent, the user can ask, “What’s tomorrow’s weather lookin’ like? ”—and the virtual agent not only predicts tomorrow’s rain, but also offers to set an earlier alarm to account for rain delays in the morning commute. Other language-based tasks that ChatGPT enjoys are translations, helping you learn new languages (watch out, Duolingo), generating job descriptions, and creating meal plans. Just tell it the ingredients you have and the number of people you need to serve, and it’ll rustle up some impressive ideas.

This AI voice chatbot can help you provide more accurate and efficient support for customers in more complex cases. Lyro provides one of the best conversational AI chatbots that use deep learning to help you level up your customer support and generate more sales. It engages visitors in a conversation on your website and continues the chat in a natural manner.

We also considered user reviews and customer support to get a better understanding of real customer experience. E-commerce chatbots have become increasingly popular as businesses look for new ways to engage with customers and streamline the online shopping experience. These chatbots are designed to simulate human-like conversations, using artificial intelligence (AI) to understand user queries organically.

I ran a quick test of Jasper by asking it to generate a humorous LinkedIn post promoting HubSpot AI tools. Within seconds, the chatbot sent information about the artists’ relationship going back all the way to 2012 and then included article recommendations for further reading. First, I asked it to generate an image of a cat wearing a hat to see how it would interpret the request. Copilot also has an image creator tool where you can prompt it to create an image of anything you want. You can even give details such as adjectives, locations, or artistic styles so you can get the exact image you envision.

However, these techniques employ a large number of messages to identify the user’s request. The company is reportedly taking a “deliberate approach” due to “the complexities involved and its likely impact on the broader ecosystem beyond OpenAI,” per TechCrunch. If your company or organization is looking for something to help specifically with professional creative needs, JasperAI is one of the best options. It helps creative professionals the most by being able to specify exactly what type of text you’re looking for. How about a professional email, a YouTube script, or even a fully-written blog post? These specific platforms and formats are what JasperAI claims to excel at.

You don’t need any graphic design software to use Midjourney, but you will have to sign up to Discord to use the service. Although we’d say Chatsonic edges it as the best content creation tool, Jasper AI is worth having a look at if that’s your use case. It’s very powerful, used by a significant number of businesses, and is just as useful as Writesonic (Chatsonic). YouChat works similarly to Bing Chat and Perplexity AI, combining the functions of a traditional search engine and an AI chatbot. Personal AI is quite easy to use, but if you want it to be truly effective, you’ll have to upload a lot of information about yourself during setup.

While some of them are in the experimental phase, they still present a lot of potential. Here are eight smart AI-powered chatbots that provide quick and accurate responses, personalized recommendations, and seamless automation. Users can customize the base personality via the chat box dropdown menu, toggle web search functionality, integrate a knowledge base, or switch to a different language setting. In the free version, users are limited to 100 queries upon registration and 20 queries daily. Although Grok’s access to real-time X posts reinforces its credibility, it is also susceptible to inaccurate or unverified information.

This might include anything from simple tag retrieval to more complex statistical techniques. Then the intent classifier module receives three inputs which are the new message, along with the language and any previous discussion messages obtained from the backend. The Intent classifier module is responsible for inferring the user’s purpose. The initial versions of ChatGPT imagined a completely open-source AI chatbot, but the move to being a privately held company has changed that goal. ColossalChat is a newcomer on the scene that recaptures that open-internet vibe. It’s free to use and available in browsers now, which makes it a solid alternative to ChatGPT when it’s at capacity.

• Copilot also has an image creator tool where you can prompt it to create an image of anything you want.
• You can even take screenshots of either the entire screen or just a single window, for upload.
• GPT-4, which includes additional performance capabilities, is accessible starting at $20 per user per month.
• Quillbot has been around a lot longer than ChatGPT has and is used by millions of businesses worldwide (but remember, it’s not a chatbot!).
• The web search feature allows ZenoChat to provide the latest information from the internet.

Like Google, you can enter any question or topic you’d like to learn more about, and immediately be met with real-time web results, in addition to a conversational response. Other perks include an app for iOS and Android, allowing you to tinker with the chatbot while on the go. Footnotes are provided for every answer with sources you can visit, and the chatbot’s answers nearly always include photos and graphics.

The Lemonade insurance chatbot, named Maya, serves as a friendly guide for users navigating the insurance-buying process. Maya is designed to lead with customer empathy — with a warm and approachable personality, reflected in her smiling avatar and feminine name. The intentional design aligns with Lemonade’s brand identity and reinforces its commitment to providing a positive user experience and bypassing brokers. Following closely on the heels of Domino’s, Pizza Hut came up with a world-class chatbot that helps customers order food through Facebook Messenger. The chatbot uses NLP to understand the customer’s order and provide real-time updates on the order status. The chatbot also allows customers to track their orders and make changes to their orders if desired.

Fortunately, I was able to test a few of the chatbots below, and I did so by typing different prompts pertaining to image generation, information gathering, and explanations. Sentimental analysis can also prompt a chatbot to reroute angry customers to a human agent who can provide a speedy solution. Chatbots with sentimental analysis can adapt to a customer’s mood and align their responses smart chatbot so their input is appropriate and tailored to the customer’s experience. Whether on Facebook Messenger, their website, or even text messaging, more and more brands are leveraging chatbots to service their customers, market their brands, and even sell their products. These chatbots take the hassle out of scheduling by automating appointment bookings, confirmations, and reminders.

It has voice-to-text and text-to-voice capabilities that allow users to interact with the AI through spoken prompts. Users can request digital art outputs or content of any length, whether captions, email replies, or long-form articles. Chatsonic also offers Chrome extension plugins to make it easier for users to write and research by assessing and fact-checking information about events and topics in real time.

Like ChatGPT, Gemini has been powered by several different LLMs since its release in February 2023. First, it ran on LaMDA – which one former Google employee once said was sentient – before a switch to PaLM 2, which had better coding and mathematical capabilities. After ChatGPT was launched by a Microsoft-backed company, it was only a matter of time before Google got in on the action. Google launched Bard in February 2023, changing the name in February 2024 to Gemini. And despite some early hiccups, has proven to be the best ChatGPT alternative.

It was created by a company called Luka and has actually been available to the general public for over five years. Although chatbots are usually adept at answering humans’ queries, sometimes, you have to head back to good ol’ Google to get your hands on the information you’re looking for. An AI chatbot that combines the best of AI chatbots and search engines to offer users an optimized hybrid experience. When you click on the textbox, the tool offers a series of suggested prompts, mostly rooted in news. The chatbot also displays suggested prompts on evergreen topics underneath the box. All you have to do is click on the suggestions to learn more about the topic and chat about it.

• It streamlines workflows, such as screening resumes, scheduling interviews, and more.
• It’s connected to your HubSpot data, so it has the necessary information at hand whenever you need it.
• A sales chatbot is an AI-powered chatbot that is designed to engage with potential or present customers and drive sales.
• To help illustrate the distinctions, imagine that a user is curious about tomorrow’s weather.
• The platform’s free plan is accessible for occasional content generation needs.
• The interface above is of course a little more bare than the likes of ChatGPT or Gemini, but it’s much more powerful than some of the smaller models included on this list.

Then, sign up for a free trial of Sprinklr Conversational AI which is omnichannel, no-code and multilingual. Customize your AI bots in your brand colors and make them speak in your brand voice – without developer assistance. The Wall Street Journal chatbot has been recognized with multiple awards, including the 2018 Webby Award for “Best Chatbot in the News and Politics” category.

Microsoft has also announced that the AI tech will be baked into Skype, where it’ll be able to produce meeting summaries or make suggestions based on questions that pop up in your group chat. ChatGPT has been created with one main objective – to predict the next word in a sentence, based on what’s typically happened in the gigabytes of text data that it’s been trained on. It isn’t clear how long OpenAI will keep its free ChatGPT tier, but the current signs are promising. The company says “we love our free users and will continue to offer free access to ChatGPT”. Right now, the Plus subscription is apparently helping to support free access to ChatGPT.