ChatBot

Could refer to a Daemon/Robot that interacts with a Real Time Instant Messaging space

I played with building a CoachBot variety.

ELIZA
- extended to ALICE via AIML
Chatter Bot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatterbot
Clever Bot http://www.cleverbot.com/
DavidRoss lecture: The Turing Test is one of the most famous concepts in computer science. ELIZA was one of the first, and is certainly the most famous chatbot designed to explore this question of what it means to be intelligent. Much has changed in the 46 years since ELIZA was released, but the goals remain the same: Produce text that looks like it was written by a human. Using Python, we will learn how to use Markov Chain models to create a conversational bot that produces surprisingly humanlike results. Markov models are used in information theory, bioinformatics, Google Page Rank, children's games, webcomics, and spam.
Jun'2014: In the journal Computers in Human Behavior, a research team reports patients are more comfortable discussing private matters with these computer-created entities, and this ease prompts them to disclose more information. “The power of VH (virtual human) interviewers to elicit more honest responding comes from the sense that no one is observing or judging,” note the researchers, led by GaleLucas of the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies.

Could really be a Command Line-like interface to an API. (See Wiki And IRC.)

Bill Seitz