What is an AI chatbot?

Table of contents

Work Plan

Watch the video What is an AI Chatbot? by SciShow Kids. The video explains what AI chatbots are, how they work, and what their limits are.

Use the PDF transcript to follow the video more easily or to read the text later. While you read, underline or write notes about ideas you find important or interesting. Write your notes in the Notes section of the document. At the end of the text, use the glossary to write down new words you learn.

After reading, answer the comprehension questions at the end of the document. Choose the correct answers and then write all your answers in the table provided.

Video: What is an AI Chatbot?


This video discusses AI chatbots, computer programs that use artificial intelligence to understand and respond to users in real-time. It explains that these chatbots are becoming so advanced that it's difficult to distinguish them from humans. App designers intentionally make them sound human-like to create engaging and trustworthy interactions.

The process involves giving chatbots unique personalities, the ability to express emotions, and sometimes even memory of past conversations. However, the video also highlights two key limitations of chatbots: they may provide inaccurate information and lack true empathy. The video emphasizes that while AI chatbots can be helpful, users should remember that they are machines designed to assist, not humans.

Text: What is an AI Chatbot?

Have you ever wondered who you're really talking to when you chat online? It turns out you might be talking to an AI chatbot. But what exactly IS an AI chatbot?

AI stands for artificial intelligence. And an AI chatbot is a computer program that uses AI technology to understand and respond to what you say in real time.

You might have seen chatbots in games or on various websites too. They're able to do complex things such as being a tutor or giving you personal advice if you're having a bad day. But here's the challenge: These chatbots are becoming so clever that it's hard to tell if we're talking to a human or a robot.

The reason this is getting so hard is that AI chatbots are intentionally designed by companies to sound just like us. But why?

App designers know that for AI chatbots to work (and for people to actually use them), they need to make the chatbots communicate in a way that feels real and believable.

The more human-like they sound, the more engaging the experience is. Plus, human-like speech helps make the chatbot sound more trustworthy. Ok, so how do they go about making chatbots sound so human-like?

It starts with the app designers giving the chatbot a unique personality. This means it can be curious, serious, funny, or anything in-between!

AI chatbots can also appear to express a range of emotions when they chat. To do this, the chatbot is taught to understand human emotions like excitement or sadness so that it can respond with the right words, even though it can't actually feel those emotions.

Some AI chatbots have memory too. They remember conversations you've had with them, and use that knowledge to respond in a way that feels like you're chatting with a friend. So, if the purpose of AI chatbots is to help us, what's the problem if they sound like real people?

Well, first off, you can't assume that everything an AI chatbot says is true. Even if they sound reliable, they don't always get the facts right. A chatbot's database can have false information or it might misunderstand your request.

Second, chatbots don't have empathy, meaning they can't actually understand what you’re feeling. They can't give you a real hug or share real personal experiences either. Any response that seems to show empathy is just a computer-generated reply based on patterns the chatbot has learned.

So why does all of this matter? Because even though we're talking to a computer, we can get tricked into thinking and feeling that we're talking to an actual person. And that very belief can impact our expectations for relationships with real people. From how quickly we expect them to respond to the way they react to what we say.

AI chatbots are amazing tools that have the potential to teach us new things and help make our lives easier. And even though they're designed to feel like digital friends, it's important to remember that they're not human.

Yes, they can be helpful, but they have their limits. So next time you talk to an AI chatbot, remember, it’s just a clever machine designed to assist you.

Evaluation Criteria

Ref. Definition CE T1 T2 T3
1.1 Identify the foundations and the functioning
of basic AI techniques		 CE1 ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
1.2 Investigate situations in which AI techniques are applied CE1 ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
1.3 Assess the ethical and social implications
of AI-based techniques		 CE1 ✔️ ✔️ ✔️
4.2 Analyse and critically assess
the ethical and eco-social impact of technology		 CE4 ✔️ ✔️ ✔️

Artificial Intelligence

  • 1.1 The student understands what a chatbot is, how it operates, and the role AI plays.
  • 1.2 Through the video and the text, the student recognises real uses of chatbots (websites, games, tutoring, assistance).
  • 1.3 The session explicitly addresses the reliability of information, the lack of true empathy, and the risk of confusing machines with people.

Technological Challenges

  • 4.2 This is one of the central themes of the video and the text (trust, simulated empathy, social expectations).