What’s the difference between a Chatbot, a Voicebot and a Virtual Assistant?

A small guide to avoid terminological ambiguity in Conversational AI products

Chatbots, Voicebots, VUIs, Virtual Assistants, Conversational Interfaces, Vocal Assistants, Conversational IVRs, Bots… what’s the right word to address that thing I’m talking to?

If you have ever asked yourself this question, don’t worry: you’re not alone.

As the field of Conversational AI keeps thriving and more and more people coming from different backgrounds — and with different levels of expertise — start working in it, it’s not unusual to hear different words used to address the same product, or vice versa the same expression used in two or more different meanings.

First of all, let’s start with some background information: Conversational AI is the discipline that designs and develops solutions that allow humans and machines to engage in a conversation. I provide an introduction to this subject in my previous article, “What is Conversational AI? An introduction to conversational interfaces”: