AI Assistants vs Chatbots: What’s the Difference?

The term “Virtual assistant” and “chatbot” are used interchangeably since they have something in common, but you’d be surprised how different they actually are.

Virtual assistants and chatbots are both Natural Language Processing based, conversational AI with service mentality yet their capability, cost, coverage and platform differ. They also serve different purposes for different groups of people.

Let’s have a look at each one.

What is virtual assistant?

A virtual assistant, also known as an AI assistant, is an advanced AI system designed to provide comprehensive support to users. These AI assistants are capable of understanding natural language, executing complex tasks while learning and maintaining human-like interactions.

These AI assistants come in different formats and channels, from online websites to interactive devices, that allow users to ask, command and request through voice or text.

Commonly known virtual assistants include Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa and Youper. These assistants are mainly used on a daily basis to help user execute certain tasks.

You might have even come across some virtual assistants that have chat-like interface which confuse you with chatbots in general.

So here goes another question, What is chatbot?

Chatbot is an AI-powered program for mainly textual conversations used for providing instant responses to users and carrying out repetitive tasks.

Nowadays, they are mostly used by businesses to answer specific queries and respond to customer requests, all of which are predefined and scripted.

With chatbot integrations, however, businesses are able to deploy multichannel chatbots by using the same sets of prompt to maintain their brand identity and reduce human agent’s workload.

Virtual Assistants and Chatbots for Customer Service

General comparison of virtual assistants and chatbots infographic — *General comparison of virtual assistants and chatbots*

Since virtual assistants also have text-based, chat-like interface, user can mistake one for the other. In fact, their tasks does overlap, while their responses and capabilities might outperform each other in different aspects.

Let’s break it down to four major parts.

1. Functionality

AI assistants are multifunctional and generally multilingual. They are capable of administrative tasks like scheduling appointments, setting reminders, and answering both database-based and general knowledge questions. Chatbots, however, provide quick responses to predefined queries.

2. Complexity

AI assistants engage in more complex conversations. They are more likely to generate tailored responses while maintaining human-like interactions. Meanwhile, chatbots execute in giving concise and straightforward responses.

3. Learning and Adaptation

AI assistants learn and adapt to users' preferences and behaviors over time, making them increasingly personalized. Chatbots typically rely on pre-programmed scripts and do not evolve through user interactions.

4. User Experience

AI assistants offer a more conversational and human-like experience for better user engagement. On the other hand, chatbots provide efficient but less engaging interactions.

“To say one is better than the other depends on the purpose of deployment and cost-effectiveness, too.”

Virtual assistants and Chatbots in Business

Virtual assistants and chatbots are currently adopted by businesses in almost every industry. But how do you know if such products suit your business goals? If so, are they affordable?

Take our products and services for example.

Amity Solutions offers both text-based, GPT-powered virtual assistants or so-called generative chatbot ASAP and chatbots AmityBots that allow businesses from insurance industry to FMCG to provide accessible and cost-effective customer service.

Most importantly, our company prioritizes customer’s privacy. Yes, we take data security very seriously, trusted and proven by our partnership with a number of leading companies.