# AI chat assistant

Concept · [Building with AI](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/ai)

Also called: chatbot, chat bot, chatbots, AI assistant, AI chatbot, chat app, chat assistant

A finished app where a person types or talks to an [AI model](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/model) and gets replies in [conversation](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/session). It differs from an [API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terms/api), which is how a company's own software calls the same kind of model and which providers bill separately by usage.

**For example:** A [founder](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/founder) pays a monthly subscription for a chat assistant and uses it to draft emails. The founder's product calls a model through the [API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terms/api) and pays for each [token](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/token).

## Connects to (16)

- [LLM](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/llm): Large language model.
- [API](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/terms/api): Application programming interface.
- [Claude](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/claude): An AI chat assistant made by Anthropic.
- [ChatGPT](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/chatgpt): An AI chat assistant made by OpenAI.
- [Gemini](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/gemini): Google's AI chat assistant, which people type or talk to.
- [Usage-based pricing](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/usage-based-pricing): A way to charge where the bill follows how much the customer uses, instead of a flat fee.
- [System prompt](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/system-prompt): Standing instructions that the builder of an AI product gives the model before any user types.
- [Grok](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/grok): An AI chat assistant made by xAI.
- [Perplexity](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/perplexity): An AI search tool.
- [Meta AI](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/meta-ai): Meta's AI assistant, available in its own app and inside Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
- [Custom GPTs](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/custom-gpts): Versions of ChatGPT that a person sets up for one job, with their own instructions, files and tools, and can share with others.
- [Microsoft 365 Copilot](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/microsoft-365-copilot): Microsoft's AI assistant built into its work apps, such as Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams.
- [Gemini Live](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/gemini-live): A mode of the Gemini app for talking with Gemini out loud in real time, and showing it the phone's camera or screen.
- [LMArena](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/lmarena): A public website, now called Arena, where people compare answers from two anonymous AI models and vote for the better one.
- [Observe.AI](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/observe-ai): Software for customer contact centers that uses AI to transcribe and analyze calls and to assist or automate agents.
- [HeyClicky](https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/heyclicky): An AI assistant app for Mac and Windows that sits on the desktop and helps with what is on the screen.

Map view: https://ecosystem.samcarlton.com/chatbot