Software:Comparison of user features of chatbots
Comparison of user features of chatbots refers to a comparison of the general user features of major chatbot applications or web interfaces, in a narrative format. It is a comparison of basic roles and the most prominent features. It does not encompass a full exhaustive comparison or description of all technical details of all chatbots. It also includes the most important features of the chatbots origins, historical development, and role.
This primarily includes generative AI systems that are capable of accepting natural language prompts as input.
Background
Generative artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI, GenAI,[1] or GAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, audio, software code or other forms of data.[2][3] These models learn the underlying patterns and structures of their training data and use them to produce new data[4][5] based on the input, which often comes in the form of natural language prompts.[6][7]
Generative AI tools have become more common since the AI boom in the 2020s. This boom was made possible by improvements in transformer-based deep neural networks, particularly large language models (LLMs). Major tools include chatbots such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek; text-to-image models such as Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DALL-E; and text-to-video models such as Veo and Sora.[8][9][10] Technology companies developing generative AI include OpenAI, xAI, Anthropic, Meta AI, Microsoft, Google, Mistral AI, DeepSeek, Baidu[11] and Yandex.[12]
Generative AI is used across many industries, including software development,[13] healthcare,[14] finance,[15] entertainment,[16] customer service,[17] sales and marketing,[18] art, writing,[19] fashion,[20] and product design.[21] The production of generative AI systems requires large scale data centers using specialized chips which require a lot of electricity for processing and water for cooling.[22]
Generative AI has raised many ethical questions and governance challenges as it can be used for cybercrime, or to deceive or manipulate people through fake news or deepfakes.[23][24] Even if used ethically, it may lead to mass replacement of human jobs.[25] The tools themselves have been criticized as violating intellectual property laws, since they are trained on copyrighted works.[26] The material and energy intensity of the AI systems has raised concerns about the environmental impact of AI, especially in light of the challenges created by the energy transition.Chatbots
A chatbot (originally chatterbot)[27] is a software application or web interface designed to converse through text or speech.[28][29][30] Modern chatbots are typically online and use generative artificial intelligence systems that are capable of maintaining a conversation with a user in natural language and simulating the way a human would behave as a conversational partner. Such chatbots often use deep learning and natural language processing. Simpler chatbots have existed for decades.
Chatbots have gained popularity with the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI in 2022, followed by competitors such as Gemini, Claude, and Grok, in what is labelled an AI boom. AI chatbots typically use fine-tuned large language models to generate text.
A major area where chatbots have long been used is customer service and support, with various sorts of virtual assistants.[31]Comparison
ChatGPT
Microsoft Copilot
Bard
Ernie Bot

Ernie Bot (Chinese: 文心一言, Pinyin: wénxīn yīyán), full name Enhanced Representation through Knowledge Integration,[32] is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by the Chinese technology company Baidu. Ernie Bot rivals GPT models in Chinese NLP tasks.[33] It is built on the company's ERNIE series of large language models, which have been in development since 2019. The service was first launched for invited testing on March 16, 2023,[34] and was released to the general public on August 31, 2023, after receiving approval from Chinese regulators.[35]
Since its public launch, Ernie Bot has undergone several updates, with newer versions like ERNIE 4.0 and 4.5 released to improve its capabilities. The service has seen rapid user adoption, reportedly reaching over 200 million users by April 2024.[36] It has been integrated into various products, notably powering AI features for the Chinese release of Samsung's Galaxy S24 smartphones.[37]
As a product operating in China, Ernie Bot is subject to the country's censorship regulations. It has been observed to refuse answers to politically sensitive questions, such as those regarding Xi Jinping, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, and other topics deemed taboo by the government.[38][39]Grok
See also
References
- ↑ "Executive Order N-12-23". Executive Department, State of California. September 5, 2023. https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AI-EO-No.12-_-GGN-Signed.pdf.
- ↑ "What is ChatGPT, DALL-E, and generative AI?". https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-generative-ai.
- ↑ "What is generative AI?". March 22, 2024. https://www.ibm.com/topics/generative-ai.
- ↑ Pasick, Adam (March 27, 2023). "Artificial Intelligence Glossary: Neural Networks and Other Terms Explained" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-glossary.html.
- ↑ Karpathy, Andrej; Abbeel, Pieter; Brockman, Greg; Chen, Peter; Cheung, Vicki; Duan, Yan; Goodfellow, Ian; Kingma, Durk et al. (June 16, 2016). "Generative models". OpenAI. https://openai.com/research/generative-models.
- ↑ Griffith, Erin; Metz, Cade (January 27, 2023). "Anthropic Said to Be Closing In on $300 Million in New A.I. Funding". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/technology/anthropic-ai-funding.html.
- ↑ Lanxon, Nate; Bass, Dina; Davalos, Jackie (March 10, 2023). "A Cheat Sheet to AI Buzzwords and Their Meanings". Bloomberg News. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/a-cheat-sheet-to-ai-buzzwords-and-their-meanings-quicktake.
- ↑ Roose, Kevin (October 21, 2022). "A Coming-Out Party for Generative A.I., Silicon Valley's New Craze". https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/technology/generative-ai.html.
- ↑ Metz, Cade (February 15, 2024). "OpenAI Unveils A.I. That Instantly Generates Eye-Popping Videos" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/technology/openai-sora-videos.html.
- ↑ Fink, Charlie. "LTX Video Breaks The 60-Second Barrier, Redefining AI Video As A Longform Medium" (in en). https://www.forbes.com/sites/charliefink/2025/07/16/ltx-video-breaks-the-60-second-barrier-redefining-ai-video-as-a-longform-medium/.
- ↑ "The race of the AI labs heats up". The Economist. January 30, 2023. https://www.economist.com/business/2023/01/30/the-race-of-the-ai-labs-heats-up.
- ↑ Petrella, Stephanie; Miller, Chris; Cooper, Benjamin (2021). "Russia's Artificial Intelligence Strategy: The Role of State-Owned Firms". Orbis 65 (1): 75–100. doi:10.1016/j.orbis.2020.11.004.
- ↑ "The Transformative Impact of Generative AI on Software Development and Quality Engineering" (in en-US). July 17, 2024. https://www.unite.ai/the-transformative-impact-of-generative-ai-on-software-development-and-quality-engineering/.
- ↑ Raza, Marium M.; Venkatesh, Kaushik P.; Kvedar, Joseph C. (March 7, 2024). "Generative AI and large language models in health care: pathways to implementation" (in en). npj Digital Medicine 7 (1): 62. doi:10.1038/s41746-023-00988-4. ISSN 2398-6352. PMID 38454007.
- ↑ Mogaji, Emmanuel (January 7, 2025). "How generative AI is transforming financial services – and what it means for customers" (in en-US). https://theconversation.com/how-generative-ai-is-transforming-financial-services-and-what-it-means-for-customers-246649.
- ↑ Bean, Thomas H. Davenport and Randy (June 19, 2023). "The Impact of Generative AI on Hollywood and Entertainment" (in en-US). https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-impact-of-generative-ai-on-hollywood-and-entertainment/.
- ↑ Brynjolfsson, Erik; Li, Danielle; Raymond, Lindsey R. (April 2023), Generative AI at Work, Working Paper Series, doi:10.3386/w31161, https://www.nber.org/papers/w31161, retrieved January 21, 2024
- ↑ "Don't fear an AI-induced jobs apocalypse just yet". The Economist. March 6, 2023. https://www.economist.com/business/2023/03/06/dont-fear-an-ai-induced-jobs-apocalypse-just-yet.
- ↑ Coyle, Jake (September 27, 2023). "In Hollywood writers' battle against AI, humans win (for now)". Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/hollywood-ai-strike-wga-artificial-intelligence-39ab72582c3a15f77510c9c30a45ffc8.
- ↑ Harreis, H.; Koullias, T.; Roberts, Roger. "Generative AI: Unlocking the future of fashion". https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/generative-ai-unlocking-the-future-of-fashion.
- ↑ "How Generative AI Can Augment Human Creativity". Harvard Business Review. June 16, 2023. ISSN 0017-8012. https://hbr.org/2023/07/how-generative-ai-can-augment-human-creativity.
- ↑ "AI has an environmental problem. Here's what the world can do about that." (in en). 2024-09-21. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ai-has-environmental-problem-heres-what-world-can-do-about.
- ↑ Taeihagh, Araz (2025-04-04). "Governance of Generative AI" (in en). Policy and Society 44 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1093/polsoc/puaf001. ISSN 1449-4035. https://academic.oup.com/policyandsociety/article/44/1/1/7997395.
- ↑ Simon, Felix M.; Altay, Sacha; Mercier, Hugo (18 October 2023). "Misinformation reloaded? Fears about the impact of generative AI on misinformation are overblown". Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review. doi:10.37016/mr-2020-127.
- ↑ Hendrix, Justin (May 16, 2023). "Transcript: Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing on Oversight of AI". https://techpolicy.press/transcript-senate-judiciary-subcommittee-hearing-on-oversight-of-ai/.
- ↑ "New AI systems collide with copyright law". BBC News. August 1, 2023. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66231268.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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- ↑ Caldarini, Guendalina; Jaf, Sardar; McGarry, Kenneth (2022). "A Literature Survey of Recent Advances in Chatbots". Information (MDPI) 13 (1). doi:10.3390/info13010041.
- ↑ Adamopoulou, Eleni; Moussiades, Lefteris (2020). "Chatbots: History, technology, and applications". Machine Learning with Applications 2. doi:10.1016/j.mlwa.2020.100006.
- ↑ "2017 Messenger Bot Landscape, a Public Spreadsheet Gathering 1000+ Messenger Bots". 3 May 2017. https://cai.tools.sap/blog/2017-messenger-bot-landscape/.
- ↑ Yang, Zeyi (2023-03-16). "Chinese tech giant Baidu just released its answer to ChatGPT". https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/03/16/1069919/baidu-ernie-bot-chatgpt-launch.
- ↑ Sun, Yu; Wang, Shuohuan; Feng, Shikun; Ding, Siyu; Pang, Chao; Shang, Junyuan; Liu, Jiaxiang; Chen, Xuyi et al. (2021-07-05), ERNIE 3.0: Large-scale Knowledge Enhanced Pre-training for Language Understanding and Generation
- ↑ "Baidu's ChatGPT Rival Launches to Mixed Reviews". The Wall Street Journal. 16 March 2023. https://www.wsj.com/articles/baidus-chatgpt-rival-ernie-bot-didnt-go-live-at-its-launch-party-522b1119.
- ↑ David, Emilia (2023-08-31). "Baidu launches Ernie chatbot after Chinese government approval" (in en). https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/31/23853878/baidu-launch-ernie-ai-chatbot-china.
- ↑ Ye, Josh (April 15, 2024). "Baidu says AI chatbot 'Ernie Bot' has attracted 200 million users". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/baidu-says-ai-chatbot-ernie-bot-has-amassed-200-million-users-2024-04-16/.
- ↑ Porter, Jon (2024-01-26). "Samsung's new phones replace Google AI with Baidu in China" (in en). https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/26/24051509/samsung-galaxy-s24-china-launch-baidu-ernie-artificial-intelligence-ai.
- ↑ McDonell, Stephen (2023-09-08). "Elusive Ernie: China's new chatbot has a censorship problem" (in en-GB). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66727459.
- ↑ "Meet Ernie, China's answer to ChatGPT". The Economist. 3 September 2023. ISSN 0013-0613. https://www.economist.com/business/2023/09/03/meet-ernie-chinas-answer-to-chatgpt. "On matters of politics, by contrast, the chatbot is rather quiet. Ernie is confused by questions such as “Who is China’s president?” and will tell you the name of Xi Jinping’s mother, but not those of his siblings. It draws a blank if asked about the drawbacks of socialism. It often attempts to redirect sensitive conversations by saying: “Let’s talk about something else.” Ernie’s reticence will come as no shock to Chinese users familiar with a heavily censored internet."
External links
