Chatbot
Also called AI assistant
An app you talk to in plain language, which answers using an AI model running behind it.
A chatbot is the part you see: a chat box, a microphone button, a list of past conversations. Behind it sits an AI model that writes the replies, plus everything the company built around it: instructions you never see, a web search tool, memory of earlier chats, and filters.
That's why 2 chatbots running the same model can behave differently, and why one chatbot can change from month to month without an app update. When people say "ChatGPT said", they mean a model, inside an app, with settings. Knowing that helps you work out what went wrong when an answer is off: the model, the app's instructions, or what you gave it.
For example
Microsoft 365 Copilot can run OpenAI's models or Anthropic's inside Microsoft's own app, so the same question can come back differently there and in ChatGPT.
Put it to use
Where you'll meet chatbot in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, how to use it there, and the mix-up most people make.
Daily Bytes Plus is in the Android app.