The 10 Best Chatbots And What They Can Do For You

Since artificial intelligence (AI) technology steadily advances on a daily basis, it’s only natural to expect a sophisticated AI alternative to almost anything. Chatbots are no exception, and the range of things the best chatbot (s) can do has grown exponentially.

Generally, a chatbot is a computer programs that offers convincing simulations of a conversation using either audio or textual input. They have a wide array of purposes, including entertainment, education, and information services. The best chatbots can entertain and engage customers, act as a marketing tool and provide a generally more convenient way of handling things. Chatbots also have a significant practical use as automated assistants, proving to be rather suitable for, say, customer support as the first point of contact for a customer.

So, there’s lots of good use from chatbots. Here are the 10 best chatbots worth your time.

Andy

Andy is a great way to practice your English-speaking skills or even learn the language. The chatbot focuses on the real world conversation rather than the often boring exercises and tests. You can chat with it on a wide array of topics and Andy will correct your grammar mistakes in the process. When it does correct you, it will also provide a short explanation. Audio of the typed messages is also available so you can practice your pronunciation skills. Andy is available as a paid download app for both Android and iOS users, as well as a free addition to Facebook Messenger.

CNN chatbot

If you want to stay in the loop regarding what’s happening in the world at the moment, this is the best chatbot to use. CNN’s bot for Facebook Messenger provides you with the breaking and latest news with a simple query. You type the topic that interests you and the bot presents the headlines with images on the topic. From there, you can choose between reading the whole story or getting a summary. It also remembers your preferences and thus offers suggestions on topics you might find interesting.

DoNotPay

Dubbed the “robot lawyer”, DoNotPay is legal aid for the next generation. Invented by a 19-year-old British student, this free chatbot successfully appeals parking tickets and handles various compensation matters such as missed flights or lost baggage, through a thorough understanding of the appeal process. It uses a form of standardized questions to work out the relevant details regarding the legal issue in hand. The chatbot then forms a court-ready appeal you can send immediately.

If you have any doubt about its effectiveness, consider this – early reports showed that over 250,000 people used the service with $4 million worth of tickets overturned.

Guggy

Guggy is one of the many chatbots developed for light, informal chatting. It is also one the most popular and fun ones, for a reason. This chatbot displays a relevant GIF with the text animated on it. It supports emojis, smileys, slang, expressions, celebrities and more. There’s not much use of it outside the fun texting, but it superbly does what it’s intended for – fun. It’s available for almost any service or platform, including Facebook, iOS, Slack and even as a Chrome extension.

HealthTap Chatbot

Essentially an online medical consultant, the HealthTap is the best chatbot for health and medical concerns. The bot answers any question you might have about a certain medical issue. It does so by displaying a number of articles it finds relevant to your problem. Each of those articles was previously answered by doctors with a note detailing how many doctors have referenced it to other users. You can also ask follow-up questions to get further details on the issue, but the response may be a bit slow. The paid version offers personal consultations with a doctor, as well as a quicker response. However, don’t get too hung up on it. Nothing can replace a real doctor when talking about your health, especially if it’s something serious, or an emergency.

Hi Poncho

This rather simple chatbot provides weather forecasts as soon as you type the city or town of your choosing. Hi Poncho will also throw in a funny quip to lighten up the proceedings. However, it struggles understanding locations beyond a single entry, so adding a new town or state to your query results in error. Still, Hi Poncho can be quite handy as you can set up specific times to get updates during the day.

Kayak Chatbot

Kayak is the best chatbot of choice for anything related to travel. It will give you all the necessary information you need on transportation, accommodation, and even activities. In addition, this travel chatbot will provide updates for your trip and also allow you to book your travel through Facebook Messenger. It also provides occasional suggestions and ideas on where and when to go. All in all, Kayak is like your own personal travel assistant available 24/7.

Mitsuku

One of the most advanced chatbots around, Mitsuku is an excellent solution if you want a casual chat. This year’s winner of the Loebner Prize (an annual competition in artificial intelligence that awards prizes to the chatbots judges deem to be the most human-like) uses an advanced deep learning technology and learns by experience, meaning the chatbot gets smarter the more you interact with it. Mitsuku is envisioned as a female and it refers to itself accordingly, giving an additional level of personality. Unfortunately, there is still no app support so the only way to chat with Mitsuku is through its website.

Ozlo

If you are looking for a complete personal assistant chatbot, then Ozlo is probably your best bet. This cute chatbot supports lots of services, including Yelp, TripAdvisor, IMDB and much more in different areas. Ozlo can help you find places to eat, buy tickets for a movie or a show, discover recipes, get you an Uber ride and much more. As with many other chatbots on the list, it gets smarter the more you communicate with it. Ozlo is available as an app for both Android and iOS users.

Surveybot

As the name suggests, Surveybot is the best chatbot for creating your own surveys on Facebook. You can make a survey after someone completes a registration, a purchase or any other action you find relevant. Surveybot primarily focuses on business users, but anyone with the need for a data overview, such as academic research is sure to find it appealing. The chatbot is really simple as it’s all plug-and-play, without the hassle of coding. While it’s more of a service than a chat, Surveybot provides a more targeted, personal experience in terms of collecting information.

Closing words

So there you go. The chatbots are slowly overcoming the image of being a gimmick and becoming a rather useful solution for many services. Today, they represent a new way of accessing information and communication which centers on messaging. It’s important to note that they are still in the early development. Thus, it is reasonable to say they will only get better in the future. Currently, available technology serves as a faster and more direct link to the end product or service, no matter what it is. The added bonus is, if done correctly, the best chatbots can also be quite fun, adding another layer to the whole experience.

This time, the chatbots are here to stay and we might as well enjoy them.

Bonus (updated on November 5, 2017). Our latest favorite chatbot is:

SnapTravel

SnapTravel is a travel-booking chatbot that recently raised $8mm to help you book hotels over chat. Like many recent bots, SnapTravel uses an AI + humans hybrid to ensure great client service.