There are two major categories of AI software in use today. The first is the chatbot, which uses a language model (LM) that provides the source of learned knowledge. It is represented by statistical patterns and is not like a traditional database or even the language models of early AI systems. For example, ChatGPT uses the GPT models, Gemini uses Gemini models and Claude uses Sonnet and Opus models. See
chatbot.
The second category is the AI agent, which also uses language models as well as available databases, websites and other information sources to perform myriad functions for the user. Examples are filling out forms, researching a topic, providing customer support, scheduling meetings and booking a flight. See
AI agent and
large language model.