Chatbots, Smart Assistants, and LLMs: What's the Difference?

You’ve probably talked to a chatbot, asked Alexa a question, or played around with ChatGPT… but what’s really going on behind the scenes? Let’s break down the difference between chatbots, smart assistants, and large language models – without the jargon.

Old-School Chatbots: Like Pressing 1 for Customer Support.

Traditional chatbots are basically digital phone menus. You ask something like “What’s my balance?” and they follow a fixed script: are you logged in? Let’s verify who you are. Then they give you the info—job done.

They’re great for repetitive tasks where you want consistent answers every time. Think banking chatbots that help with checking transactions or updating contact details. Solid, predictable, no surprises.

But ask anything slightly outside the script—like “Can I move money between two accounts with different currencies?”—and they freeze or send you to a human. They’re only as clever as the flowchart they were built with.

Smart Assistants: Voice-Powered Helpers

Then we’ve got voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. These guys are built to handle spoken commands—“set a timer,” “what’s the weather,” “play my chill playlist”, and they do it well.