So Many Bots, So Little Time which A Simple AI Chatbot Comparison Guide for The Rest Of Us
There’s so much chatter around it. Grab drivers are using it when responding to online reviews, cousins who work in marketing are using it to generate captions for their social media posts, and even your mother has probably asked you which app to use to “talk to the robot.” But even if you were to sit down and choose an app today? Wah, too many options! One app is smart but has “memory issues,” another is secure but slow, while yet another sounds human-like but gives you the wrong Nasi Lemak recipe (no raisins please!). You don’t have to be a computer scientist to figure out what will work best for you. So let’s grab a Kopi O and chat. I will take you through AI chatbot comparison guide, both established companies and smaller companies, as well as how to know if the chatbot you are communicating with is smart (or faking it).
Stop Comparing Specs. Start Comparing Habits.
Many AI chatbot comparison guide appear the same on paper, with claims of being “powerful”, “intelligent”, and “revolutionary”. However, the actual user experience of these platforms can be significantly different than their marketing would imply. ChatGPT can do everything, from crafting poetry to creating a business plan, or providing a breakup message – but it also has a tendency to provide shorter responses if it feels that you are not important. Very much like humans can sometimes be.
Claude is the smart, nerdy partner in the group that you would want to give a lengthy document (e.g., 100-page PDF) to for it to read through like it is a novel. However, as a tool for quick conversations, it comes across as being overly cordial, similar to how a banker would be. Gemini (Google) is the speed reader, and because it is directly linked with Google Search, it is usually able to provide current information faster than any other platform. However, it can sometimes pause too long before providing an answer for “sensitive” issues. In summary, the selection of which platform to use is dependent on what you are doing and if you need coding, writing, or summarizing a lengthy meeting. You would not use a screwdriver to drive in a nail. Thus, is true with the selection of these platforms!
Can It “Remember” What We Said 5 Minutes Ago?
No one really talks about this feature until you need it: The ability for a chatbot to continue conversations over multiple prompts. For example, let’s say you tell the chat bot “I’m looking for a Japanese restaurant in PJ.” The chat bot replies, “Here are 5 places.” You follow up with “Which restaurant has parking?” If the chat bot just stares at you and says, “I don’t know what we’re talking about,” that is very poor multi-turn conversation handling.
A good chat bot will use the Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities that it has in order to maintain context. It knows when you requested a Japanese restaurant in PJ and understands that your question “Which one?” refers to the list of 5 Japanese restaurants that you just received based on your previous input. Currently, ChatGPT and Claude have it down—they can keep a conversation going for hours. Gemini is learning, but they tend to “forget” little details if you talk to them for too long. Companies who are using things like Axrail (shameless plug) place a great deal of emphasis on multi-turn conversation handling. Customers do not talk in lists or bullet points in real life; they tend to ramble, change topics, etc. A good chat bot should be able to keep up with that.
Privacy: Are You The Product Or The Customer?
Most people do not realize that their chatbot conversations might be used by various companies to make their chatbots more intelligent and better at their respective jobs. Even though many chatbots have options for users to opt-out of data collection, they often hide those options deep within the settings, making it challenging for users to find. On the other hand, Proton Lumo is an emerging platform that provides users with total privacy. They do not allow anyone to have access to your conversations, even the company that developed its application.
Finally, deployment options (cloud vs on premises) for companies are also important considerations. Commonly used by most people are “cloud” deployment models (simply going to a website); however, some businesses — like banks and law firms — require “on-premises” deployment solutions in which the bot operates on its servers and not via the internet. If you are looking for total control over your chatbot, Rasa is a well-known framework for creating an on premises chatbot. Common sense is still your best defense against fraud or scamming through chatbots; avoid giving your unique identification number and/or credit card information to any chatbot.
Pre-trained vs Custom: Do You Need To Teach It?
The way many people believe that AIs operate, that you only need to switch it “on” for it to be familiar with your business operations are far from true. Major distinctions exist between pre-trained and custom-built chatbots. A pre-trained bot (e.g., standard ChatGPT) will be able to provide general knowledge about various topics; however, it will not have specific expertise in your industry. Therefore, an inquirer could ask for advice regarding Malaysian tax law through a pre-trained bot and receive only general information obtained from Wikipedia. The response may also contain erroneous information. In contrast, to the pre-trained bot, a custom-built chatbot would be knowledgeable regarding your unique business operations given the bot was trained on your specific company data, including your company’s price list, policy handbook or frequently asked questions.
Integration with other apps and services can occur with custom-built chatbots. For example, a custom-built bot can receive real-time calendar entries from your Google Calendar, access live information from your customer relationship management (CRM) application, or even reserve flight tickets on your behalf. This means that the custom-built bot can perform actions versus just producing text. If your intention is solely for educational purposes or for casual use, the pre-trained version of ChatGPT will suffice. However, if you own or manage a business, you should invest in a custom-built chatbot. Otherwise, you will be paying for an advanced search engine.