| Service-oriented | Chatbot responds to users' service needs | “Machine agents serving as natural language user interfaces to data and service providers, typically in the context of messaging applications” (Følstad and Brandtzaeg, 2017, p. 38) |
| Performing logical and cognitive operations | Chatbot is based on coded or machine learning algorithms that support logical and cognitive activities | “Driven by algorithms of varying complexity, chat bots respond to users' messages by selecting the appropriate expression from preprogramed schemas, or in the case of emerging bots, through the use of adaptive machine learning algorithms. Chat bots can approximate a lively conversation with a human user, giving the illusion of intelligence or humanness” (Neff and Nagy, 2016, p. 4915.) |
| Interdependent system | Chatbot processes previous interactions and uses such knowledge to answer automatically using natural language | “In chatbots, the system is fed with natural language data on historical customer interaction, which is processed by an intelligent system that learns to automatically suggest answers back to the customer in text format” (Riikkinen et al., 2018, p. 1146) |
| Machine automation | Chatbot interacts mechanically with users without human help | “[A chatbot is] an automatic system capable of emulating a human being in a dialog with another person, in order to complete a specific task” (Griol et al., 2019, p. 28) |
| Independent action | Chatbot makes decisions independently without human help | “[A chat bot has] autonomous and adaptable interfaces that interact, communicate and deliver service to an organisations' customers” (Wirtz et al., 2018, p. 909) |