Exploring AI Chatbots: A Guide to Selecting an Effective AI Assistant

AI chatbots are computer programs powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that mimic human conversation. They are able to understand and respond to user queries by offering help, and information or performing tasks ranging from answering questions and automating customer support to assisting with sales and marketing. How have chatbots become indispensable assistants in today's world?

In this article, we'll take a look at the best AI chatbots that have a wide variety of features and a wide range of applications, including marketing, SEO, image creation, information retrieval, and even foreign language learning.

AI Chatbot Features

Modern AI chatbots are able to mimic human communication and interact with users through text or speech. They can be used in a wide range of applications, from customer support to virtual assistants. What is AI and how is it used in chatbots?

AI chatbots are equipped with NLP capabilities that allow them to understand and interpret human language. They can process text or speech messages and generate human-like responses. AI-based chatbots are able to maintain context during a conversation. They remember previous interactions and use this information to provide the most relevant and personalized responses.

Chatbots can also be integrated into various messaging platforms, websites, and mobile apps, making them available to users across multiple channels.

AI chatbots can have multiple conversations simultaneously, allowing them to easily scale to handle a large number of users. In addition, they are able to generate not only text but also images and even provide users with the sources from which the information was obtained.

Chatbots can be integrated with other software systems and databases, allowing them to retrieve and update information, make reservations, process payments, and perform various actions on behalf of users.

AI chatbots have machine learning capabilities, allowing them to learn from interactions and improve their responses over time. They can adapt to changes in language and user behavior. Are all chatbots equally useful?

An Overview of the Best AI Chatbots

ChatGPT: The Most Popular AI Chatbot

ChatGPT is a state-of-the-art language model developed by OpenAI. It is based on the GPT-3 architecture and is designed to understand and generate natural language. ChatGPT can be used in a wide range of applications including chatbots, virtual assistants, customer service, etc. It is capable of understanding and generating human-like text, answering questions, providing information, generating creative content, and stimulating conversation.

Key Features

ChatGPT is capable of understanding and interpreting natural language text input, perceiving a wide range of user queries and prompts, and generating coherent and contextually meaningful textual responses to enable dialogue with users.

ChatGPT can handle both textual and multimodal data, such as text combined with images or other multimedia data if supported.

ChatGPT can maintain context throughout a conversation, allowing it to adequately respond to user queries that refer to previous messages in the conversation, as well as translate text from one language to another.

ChatGPT helps users compose emails, reports, and other written materials and can be used to create chatbots and virtual assistants for a variety of applications, including customer support and information retrieval.

OpenAI takes an iterative approach to implementing plugins for ChatGPT. These plugins can include a wide range of functionality. This approach allows us to gather valuable feedback and insights from plugin developers, ChatGPT users, and API users who want to integrate plugins into their products. Some well-known organizations such as Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, KAYAK, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram, and Zapier have already created plugins for ChatGPT, demonstrating the potential of this feature in various areas.

ChatGPT is not available in some regions, so to access this chatbot you can use a VPN service from is*hosting, which will also ensure your online privacy.

Pros 

• Wide range of applications
• 24/7 availability
• Language versatility
• Scalability

Cons

• Limited long-term memory
• Possibility of abuse
• Dependence on Internet connection

Cost

The pricing model includes a free plan with access to GPT-3.5 and a subscription-based ChatGPT Plus plan for $20 per month that provides access to GPT-4, faster response rates, and exclusive access to beta features such as a browser, code interpreter, and other plugins.

Website: https://chat.openai.com/

Google Bard: The Best Free AI Chatbot

Bard is an experimental interface developed by Google designed for user collaboration with generative AI. It represents a continuation of Google's efforts to use large language models (LLMs) in various applications.

Key Features

Bard allows users to collaborate directly with generative AI by harnessing the power of large language models to solve a variety of problems.

Bard is based on a pre-trained PaLM 2 large language model (LLM) built from a wide range of publicly available data to generate coherent and contextually relevant responses.

Bard generates multiple answers to user queries, applies security parameters, and ranks answers by quality. The system takes into account user feedback and ratings to fine-tune its responses, continually learning and improving.

The Bard system has security tools to prevent the creation of harmful or inappropriate content, although false positives and false negatives may occur.

Google actively works to eliminate bias in Bard's responses, ensuring that a wide range of viewpoints are considered and preventing offensive or biased content.

In addition, Google engages with industry experts, educators, policymakers, and various stakeholders to gather feedback and opinions to expand Bard's capabilities and remove limitations.

Pros 

• Increased productivity and creativity
• User-friendly interface
• User feedback
• Providing multiple perspectives
• Use of images in responses

Cons

• Problems with the accuracy of information
• False positive/negative results
• Access to shared data only
• Further refinement and training required

Cost

Google Brad is a free AI chatbot. It only requires a Google account to use.

Website: https://bard.google.com/

Jasper Chat: The Best AI Chatbot for Content Creation

From scripting YouTube videos to writing blog posts to refining your LinkedIn profile, Jasper is the ultimate AI-driven content creation tool. With Jasper Chat, you can easily turn brainstorming ideas into full-fledged documents.

Key Features

Jasper Chat has been trained on billions of articles, forum discussions, video transcripts, and web content It remembers and references previous conversation snippets, providing the best context for responses and maintaining a coherent dialogue.

Jasper Chat quickly generates useful and unique content and understands and writes in over 30 languages. This tool can be customized to suit brand characteristics, offering personalized content.

When asked to create an article, Jasper Chat not only generates the result but also suggests follow-up articles on related topics. It can be used as a browser extension as well as for collaboration.

Jasper Chat has enterprise-grade security certifications and guarantees the privacy of user data during model training.

Pros

• Extensive knowledge base
• Multilingual support
• Content expansion
• Personalised branding
• Security and privacy
• Browser extension

Cons

• Limited to publicly available data
• Difficulties in handling complex or non-standard requests

Cost

You can use Jasper Chat for free for a 7-day trial period, after which you must purchase one of three subscription options: Creator, Teams, or Business. Subscriptions start at $39 per month if you purchase an annual plan.

Website: https://www.jasper.ai/chat

ChatSonic: The Best AI Chatbot with Chatbot Constructor Feature

ChatSonic is an innovative AI-powered chatbot designed to revolutionize the way users interact with AI. An alternative to ChatGPT with GPT-4 capabilities, ChatSonic offers a wide range of features including the ability to generate accurate content on relevant topics, create AI-powered artwork, and personalize avatars. With its user-friendly interface and the ability to access ChatSonic via API, this chatbot has gained popularity among, marketers, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and students.

Key Features

ChatSonic is built on GPT-4 and is capable of generating relevant content in real time using data from Google search. This is a great tool for marketers, writers, and content creators

Users can transform text into digital works of art that are perfect for social media posts and digital marketing campaigns.

ChatSonic offers customizable personal assistant avatars that can help with a variety of tasks including solving maths problems, preparing for job interviews, relationship advice, and fitness tips.

ChatSonic understands voice commands, similar to virtual assistants Siri and Google Assistant. ChatSonic offers BotSonic, an artificial intelligence chatbot constructor commissioned by ChatGPT. Users can easily integrate AI chatbots into their websites using code or an API key

In addition, ChatSonic includes ChatGPT's library of free prompts, providing users with an unlimited number of AI prompts created by other users. Users can also submit their own unique prompts and receive rewards for doing so.

ChatSonic provides API access, allowing users to easily integrate ChatSonic into existing applications, websites, or mobile apps.

Pros 

• Real-time data integration
• Personalised avatars
• Voice commands
• API access
• Mobile app

Cons

• Internet connection dependency
• Limited features of the free version

Cost

The free trial plan allows users to explore all of ChatSonic's features with a monthly limit of 10,000 words. To access advanced features and unlimited words, one must purchase one of three paid subscriptions (Unlimited, Business, Enterprise) starting at $19 per month.

Website: https://writesonic.com/chat

Poe AI Chat: The Best AI Chatbot Aggregator

Poe AI Chat is a user-friendly platform that aggregates various AI chatbots. It was originally mobile-focused but now offers a web interface as well. Poe currently runs six chatbots, including ChatGPT, GPT-4, Sage (another ChatGPT-based model from OpenAI), Claude Instant, Claude Plus (known for creative writing and detailed responses), and the latest addition, Google PaLM 2.

Key Features

One of the distinguishing features of Poe is the inclusion of various AI models such as ChatGPT, Sage, Claude-instant, Claudeinstant-100K, and Claude+. These models not only enhance the capabilities of the application but also offer users a variety of chatbot options to choose from.

Poe users can ask questions, engage in discussions, and receive quick and accurate answers from AI chatbots with artificial intelligence. Quora POE also features the concept of a bot aggregator, which combines various specialized chatbots within a single application and allows users to easily switch between chatbots optimized for different tasks.

In addition to a variety of language models, Quora POE includes user-created bots. This innovative feature allows users to create their own chatbots using prompts in conjunction with existing models such as ChatGPT.

Pros 

• Fast and accurate responses
• Chatbot aggregator
• Universal query handling
• User-friendly interface
• Possibility to create and customize your own chatbots

Cons

• Difficulties in creating long content
• Limited processing of complex requests
• Limitations of the free version

Cost

Users can submit a limited number of Poe requests daily for free. To access unlimited use of this chatbot, a paid subscription is required, which starts at €19.17 per month when purchasing an annual plan.

Website: https://poe.com/

Character.AI: The Best AI Chatbot for Entertainment

Character AI is an AI chatbot designed to facilitate engaging conversations with a variety of characters, including fictional, historical, and famous personalities. Users can also create their own AI characters with unique personalities, making it a versatile tool for conversation, language learning, and creative interaction.

Key Features

Character AI allows users to interact with a variety of characters, including historical figures, fictional characters, and even celebrities. Users can interact with these characters, gaining different perspectives and unique experiences.

Character AI uses large language models (LLMs) and deep machine learning to generate responses that are similar to communicating with a real person.

One of the distinguishing features of Character AI is the ability to create custom AI characters. Users can define the character's personality, assign avatars, and set parameters to customize their interactions with the character. This feature promotes creativity and personalization.

An AI character can also be used as a language-learning tool. Users can engage in conversations to improve their language skills, expand their vocabulary, or even use it as a translator from different languages.

The app offers various themes including assistants, games, image-generating bots, film and television actors, and language learning themes. These themes enhance the user experience and provide a variety of interaction options.

Pros 

• A wide range of characters
• Creating your own characters
• Language learning

Cons

• Possibility of generating false information
• Insufficient quality of image generation compared to other AI tools
• Lack of API

Cost

The Character AI chatbot can be used for free, but a $9.99/month Character AI+ subscription gives access to advanced features such as early access to new features, faster response rates, and access to the Character AI community.

Website: https://beta.character.ai/

YouChat: The Best AI Chatbot for Internet Search

YouChat is an AI chatbot integrated into the You.com search engine, offering a unique and versatile web search experience. It combines advanced artificial intelligence capabilities with web search functionality, providing context-sensitive chat answers alongside traditional search results.

Key Features

YouChat uses powerful artificial intelligence algorithms to understand user queries and provide accurate, context-aware answers. In addition to traditional web search, YouChat offers various types of searches including images, videos, code, etc.

Unlike traditional search engines, YouChat presents search results in an interface that resembles a Google search results page. Users can easily browse web search results while interacting with the chatbot.

One of the advantages of YouChat is the ability to cite sources from Google, which increases the credibility of the information provided.

YouChat allows for a wide range of tasks including answering questions, maths calculations, coding assistance, translation, and written content creation, making it a versatile tool for a variety of tasks.

Users also receive additional links to YouChat resources that allow them to continue searching and exploring related topics.

You.com, with YouChat at its core, is a great alternative to more well-known search engines such as Google and Bing. It provides users with unique and powerful search capabilities and also offers text answers generated by artificial intelligence.

Pros 

• Different types of searches
• Improved search results interface
• Source citation
• Links to resources
• Alternative to traditional search engines

Cons

• Interface may seem clunky to some users
• Not available as a standalone application

Cost

The free plan allows you to use the AI chatbot to search for information an unlimited number of times, generate up to 10 images and texts. To access advanced features, you must purchase a YouPro or YouPro for Learning plan, which cost $9.99 and $6.99 per month, respectively.

Website: https://web.youchat.com/

Kommunicate: The Best AI Chatbot for Customer Service

Kommunicate is an AI-powered customer support platform that offers a generative AI chatbot to automate and enhance customer conversations. Trusted by leading enterprises and startups around the world, the Kommunicate platform is designed to optimize customer support, reduce costs, improve customer experience, and drive business growth.

Key Features

Kommunicate's chatbot is powered by generative artificial intelligence, enabling it to engage in natural and context-sensitive dialogues with customers. The platform significantly reduces the need for human involvement: 83% of queries are resolved without human involvement.

Kommunicate offers codeless bot integration, making it easy to incorporate chatbots into customer support workflows. Users can seamlessly transition from interacting with bots to human dialogue, ensuring a superior customer experience.

Users have the ability to train the chatbot using their own data. This customization allows companies to provide accurate responses to customer queries.

Kommunicate offers an easy-to-use chatbot builder called Kompose. It offers a simple and intuitive interface to create NLP-based support bots and conversational workflows without the need for coding. These bots can handle tasks such as identifying leads, scheduling appointments, and 24/7 support.

Customer communication is handled through a single powerful dashboard including interaction with bots, live chats, Facebook, WhatsApp, Line, etc. The introduction of bots for customer self-service and FAQs reduces the number of incoming inquiries.

Pros 

• Efficient customer support
• Cost reduction
• Time-saving
• Personalisation
• Chatbot Builder
• Multi-channel support
• Analytics

Cons

• Setting up complex chatbot workflows can require technical skills
• Complexity of integration
• Limited offline support

Cost

Kommunicate offers three pricing plans: the $100/month "Lite" plan provides basic features for small teams, while the $200/month "Advanced" plan offers comprehensive tools including multilingual bots and multi-channel support. For businesses with customized needs, an "Enterprise" plan is available that includes tailored solutions including access to generative artificial intelligence and professional services.

Website: https://www.kommunicate.io/

HuggingChat: The Best Open Source AI Chatbot

HuggingChat is an open-source chatbot from the company Hugging Face. This ChatGPT clone is available without registration and is powered by a large Bloom language model containing 176 billion parameters. HuggingChat is based on the Open Assistant conversational AI model, which has been trained on the OpenAssistant Conversations Dataset (OASST1), and offers users an interface for conversational interaction.

Key Features

HuggingChat is an open-source chatbot, making it accessible to developers who want to experiment and develop its capabilities. Users can access HuggingChat without registering or creating an account.

The conversational interface allows users to engage in dialogue, ask questions, and receive answers from the chatbot. The OpenAssistant Conversations Dataset (OASST1), collected up to 12 April 2023 and consisting of conversations in 35 languages, was used for training.

The project is part of the non-profit organization Large-scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network (LAION) and is in line with its goals of democratizing machine learning research and efficient use of computational resources.

HuggingChat is being developed under strict guidelines for developers to ensure data quality and prevent the addition of malicious content.

For now, HuggingChat is in its early stages of development (version 0.0), but as the number of users and community contributions increases, it will evolve and improve.

Pros 

• Open Source
• No registration or paid subscription required
• Conversational interface
• Responsive AI

Cons

• Early stage of development
• Limited language support
• No advanced features

Cost

HuggingChat is a free AI chatbot.

Website: https://huggingface.co/chat/

Bing AI: The Best Online AI Chatbot

Bing AI, based on the OpenAI GPT-4 model, is an AI chatbot integrated into Microsoft's Bing search engine. It extends Bing's search capabilities by providing a conversational interface for users to search for information on the web.

Key Features

Bing AI can search the web in real time, providing users with relevant information on a wide range of topics. The AI generates answers with links to the sources it uses to gather information, allowing users to verify and explore original content. Bing AI can also display search results as images directly in the chat window.

Bing AI integrates seamlessly into the Microsoft ecosystem, including the Edge browser, making it easily accessible to users when browsing the web. Users can get real-time updates on current events and news, which eliminates one of the limitations of previous AI models.

Bing AI provides similar capabilities to ChatGPT Plus, with no need to purchase a paid subscription.

Pros 

• Access to up-to-date information
• Links to sources
• User-friendly interface
• Generates responses in the form of images

Cons

• Limit on the number of messages or calls per conversation, which is currently 30 per conversation or 300 per day
• Abrupt termination of a chat
• Limited integration

Cost

Bing AI is a completely free AI chatbot.

Website: https://www.bing.com/?/ai

ChatSpot: The Best AI Chatbot for Marketing

ChatSpot is an AI-based tool designed to help companies with sales and marketing. This chatbot utilizes the capabilities of ChatGPT and integrates with various data sources, most notably HubSpot CRM.

Key Features

ChatSpot provides access to a variety of data sources, offering valuable insights that may not be available on other platforms. The platform is designed specifically for marketers and it integrates seamlessly into the workflow.

ChatSpot includes templates for prospecting leads that help you quickly identify key opportunities for outreach. This chatbot also simplifies content creation, from preparing blog posts and tweets to generating images using artificial intelligence. It even provides an in-house editor to improve content.

ChatSpot helps you search for keywords, analyze phrases, and provides insights into competitors' SEO strategies.

For HubSpot CRM users, ChatSpot offers a number of CRM-related features including a command line interface, CRM assistant capabilities, summaries, analysis, and optimization.

Pros 

• Access to unique data
• Personalisation
• Content generation
• Deep analytics
• SEO expertise
• CRM integration

Cons

• HubSpot dependency
• Beta status
• Dependency on data sources

Cost

ChatSpot is a free AI chatbot, also for users who do not use HubSpot's CRM.

Website: https://chatspot.ai/

Claude: The Most Accurate AI Chatbot

Claude is a powerful AI assistant designed for companies and individuals who require advanced AI capabilities for a variety of tasks. It combines security, versatility, and personalization to deliver next-generation AI.

Key Features

Claude is designed with inbuilt Constitutional Artificial Intelligence to ensure data security and reduce brand risk. It requires no data-specific training, making it a safe choice for enterprises.

Claude is able to handle complex multi-step instructions on large volumes of content due to its ability to process over 100,000 tokens. It handles a variety of tasks perfectly, including complex dialogues, creative content creation, coding assistance, and more.

Users can personalize Claude to suit specific usage scenarios and preferences. Claude works with partners such as Quora, Slack, Notion, Zoom, and AssemblyAI to expand its functionality and provide seamless integration with popular platforms.

Claude offers two models:

Claude: a more powerful model suitable for tasks such as complex reasoning, creativity, thoughtful dialogue, coding, and detailed content creation.

Claude Instant: a fast and cost-effective model capable of generating everyday dialogues, performing text analysis, summarising, document understanding, etc.

Claude can be applied in a variety of fields including customer service, legal, coaching, and sales.

Pros 

• Security
• Personalisation
• Integration
• API access
• Multi-language support

Cons

• Relative complexity of use
• Usage specifics
• Cost
• The tool is only available for use in the US and UK

Cost

Claude offers two pricing plans, Claude Instant priced from $1.63 per million tokens and Claude 2 priced from $11.02 per million tokens.

Website: https://claude.ai/