AI Chatbot Battle Royale: Which AI Chatbot is Best for SMBs in Fall 2023?

AI chatbots—artificial intelligence (AI)–powered software apps that enable conducting natural language conversations that mimic human interaction to address questions (known as queries), draft text and perform routine functions, among other actions—burst upon the scene in late 2022 when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT. To say hyperbole accompanied the new AI chatbots is an understatement. From warnings the AI technology could end human existence to officious proposals proclaiming an AI Bill of Rights is necessary, the innovation is no stranger to controversy.

Wielded properly, generative AI chatbots—so called due to the AI-powered apps’ ability to learn from expansive training and employ advanced algorithms to generate and create text, photos, videos and software code, among other elements—assist small and medium businesses (SMBs) by performing common tasks, automating complex processes, improving workflows, predicting outcomes, fulfilling sales and marketing responsibilities, enhancing data mining and business intelligence efforts and reducing costs.

Just which AI chatbot is the best fit for your SMB depends upon several factors. Here’s a breakdown to assist you in determining which new AI chatbot may work best within your business.

Anthropic Claude

Anthropic, an AI safety and research company, designed its AI chatbot technology to assist businesses with a variety of responsibilities, including customer service, legal, personal development, search, sales and common office tasks. You can use the company’s Two Claude products yourself or integrate the technologies within your company’s own systems. For example, SMBs could employ Claude to assist customers and serve as a virtual sales representative.

The AI chatbot works with a variety of source information, including documents, mail and chat messages, transcripts and data records. The model excels in conducting natural conversations, boasts extensive general knowledge due to its deep training and assists automating workflows.

Anthropic offers two Claude options. They are Claude Instant and Claude (now in version 2). Claude Instant is a fast but less expensive choice for fulfilling casual dialog, text analysis, text summarization and document comprehension capabilities. Claude 2, Anthropic’s best-in-class offering, provides complex reasoning, coding and detailed content creation capabilities, among other features. As a so-called self-contained engine, the AI chatbot does not, however, possess Internet access.

The AI chatbot works with a variety of source information, including documents, mail and chat messages, transcripts and data records. The model excels conducting natural conversations, boasts extensive general knowledge due to its deep training and assists automating workflows.

For Whom Might Claude Be Best?

As a next-generation AI assistant, Claude Instant and Claude 2 are both capable AI chatbots. The products can assist a variety of small and medium businesses. That said, the model is well suited to fulfilling creative responsibilities and customer service, sales and common office functions. Because Anthropic partners with Notion, Quora, Slack and Zoom, SMBs working with those platforms are particularly likely to find Claude Instant and Claude 2 well-matched to their needs, especially when seeking to deploy an AI chatbot to interact with those corresponding apps or data sets.

Claude Pricing

One-hundred-thousand tokens are required for both Claude Instant and Claude 2 context windows. One million Claude Instant prompt tokens cost $1.63, while one million Claude 2 prompt tokens are priced at $11.02. Claude Instant completion tokens run $5.51 per million and Claude 2 completion tokens are priced at $32.68 per million.

For more information on Claude Instant and Claude, visit Anthropic’s webpage or browse the Claude support pages.

Google Bard

Google offers more products and services than just a search engine. In addition to online advertising and promotion, email accounts, cloud file storage, a workspace suite and other products, the company also maintains its own AI chatbot known as Bard. SMBs can use the free chatbot to develop ideas, fine-tune planning and project strategies, write software code, draft text, plan events and weigh advantages versus disadvantages regarding a significant business decision.

Bard is the result of Google’s AI Test Kitchen, an innovative web technology formerly also available as Android and iOS apps. The platform is designed to provide users with the ability to become familiar with its Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) conversational AI technologies. The platform learns by ingesting mammoth amounts of text that assist the AI and machine learning (ML) model in identifying human language patterns and providing logical answers to questions (queries) submitted using natural conversation.

Like many other AI chatbot models, Bard is considered experimental. As such, users need to perform their own due diligence to confirm Bard responses are accurate and factual. That step remains true for all AI chatbots, at present and for the foreseeable future.

Bard does boast an advantage over many competing AI chatbots, however. Unlike some models, Bard can access the Internet for additional pertinent information and facts regarding the queries it receives. Whereas many AI chatbots don’t possess knowledge or information of events after, say, 2021, Bard can draw upon more recent information and events.

For Whom Might Bard Be Best?

SMBs seeking to test an AI chatbot, determine how well the innovative technology might work within its environment and which are interested in potentially incorporating a tool benefiting from the ability to reach the Internet and include information from recent events within its results to assist decision making, workflow processes and automating commonly repeated workflows look to be well suited to experiment using Google’s AI model. Organization’s seeking an AI chatbot that does not require an individual Google Account or Google Workspace account or an alternative that is more commercially mature may wish to consider an alternative, though, especially as Google states Bard is an experiment capable of generating inaccurate or even inappropriate responses as of summer 2023.

Google Bard Pricing

Google currently offers Bard for free with no restriction on the number of questions you can ask or queries you can submit. No fee is required for SMB use as of late summer 2023. Neither does Google scrape your Bard activity to better target the company’s advertising. Expect that fact to potentially change, though, as organizations increasingly discover the benefits of using AI chatbots to automate common tasks and functions.

Note that Bard does, however, collect information related to your interactions with the software. For example, Google notes it “collects your conversations, your location, your feedback, and usage information.” The company and its developers—and often others actively developing AI chatbot models, so the provider is not alone—use the data gleaned from such activities to improve underlying training models, algorithms, ML capabilities and related technologies.

For more information on Google’s AI chatbot, visit the Bard page online or browse the Bard FAQ

Jasper

Aimed at businesses needing writing, copyediting and marketing assistance, Jasper is a subscription-based AI chatbot that’s partnered with OpenAI and uses some of the same language modeling to develop ChatGPT, a competing alternative. The difference is Jasper boasts additional language tools to assist generating text and can create copy using a variety of tones, personalities and voices.

For example, in addition to being trained on expansive sets of text and images, Jasper can access current information and data, including information provided by Google’s search engine. Trained on GPT-4 and other proprietary AI elements, Jasper benefits include the AI platform can generate business copy that includes information from recent news and events.

Jasper has many other capabilities, too. The software model can write social media posts, website copy, marketing text, audio and video scripts and other promotional content, while also proofing grammar and checking to ensure text doesn’t mimic known works or encroach on others’ material.

For Whom Might Jasper Be Best?

SMBs needing to summarize text and transcripts, generate product and service descriptions, create advertising and marketing copy, assist with posting social media content and performing similar tasks will find Jasper a qualified candidate. The AI chatbot also provides a web browser extension, the ability to generate art and images, a wide-ranging template library and an API to assist integrating the software within other workflow platforms, so SMBs seeking such functionality will find the AI model well suited to those specific needs.

Jasper Pricing

Using Jasper, firms should be prepared to pay for a corresponding subscription. Current pricing is set at $39 per month for a single Creator license designed to work with one brand and voice or $99 a month for a Teams license that supports working with multiple brands and provides three seats and voices.

For more information on the Jasper AI chatbot, visit the company’s webpage or browse the Jasper help center.

Microsoft Bing Chat

Microsoft’s AI chatbot entry is Bing Chat, not to be confused with the software behemoth’s standalone Bing search engine. An investor in OpenAI, the company that operates ChatGPT, it should prove no surprise Bing Chat is built using Open AI’s GPT-4 technology and, as is common for AI chatbots, is trained using vast text-based datasets, as well as information sourced from the Internet.

Compared to its ChatGPT alternative, Bing Chat features two particularly important differences. First, Microsoft’s AI chatbot can access the Internet, meaning the model can incorporate recent news and events within the work it returns. Second, the platform can also provide links back to its sources, a step increasingly proving more important as AI chatbot adoption increases, SMBs seek to document their underlying data sources and users occasionally discover AI models accidentally return inaccurate information. With specific sources and corresponding links, it becomes easier for SMBs and other Microsoft Bing Chat users to conduct their own due diligence.

Bing Chat supports conducting research, summarizing documents, drafting written text, comparing options to assist decision making, creating software code and more. A related innovation, the Bing Image Creator (powered by Open AI’s DALL-E technology) can also assist users, including SMBs, in generating new images using conversational prompts. These related Bing-branded capabilities are in addition to the Bing browser’s AI-powered search feature also available within the Microsoft Edge browser.

Intriguingly, users can submit images to Bing Chat as a query to better enable producing properly related and relevant results. For example, you could submit an image of an insect, assembly component or product when trying to confirm proper identification.

Microsoft Bing Chat is available in three distinct personality styles: Creative, Balanced and Precise. The options provide SMBs with the ability to tailor the AI chatbot’s results to better match their corporate personalities, whether they be fun and entertaining, strike a mix between extremes or prove traditionally corporate and professional.

For Whom Might Bing Chat Be Best?

Microsoft’s AI chatbot will likely prove a good fit for SMBs seeking to access AI model assistance from directly within the Microsoft Edge browser and who already possess corresponding licensing. Microsoft 365 subscribers will also find Bing Chat integrates well with other existing Microsoft 365 products, especially those—such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Planner, SharePoint sites, etc.—frequently accessed within a business using Microsoft’s browser. Microsoft Bing Chat’s ability to access the Internet for relevant and timely information also gives Bing Chat a competitive advantage against competing models not boasting such connectivity.

Bing Chat Pricing

Bing Chat is free for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium subscribers. An independent Bing Chat license is expected shortly, however, which is likely to be priced at five-dollars-per-user-per-month. An Enterprise version is also in development.

For more on Bing Chat, visit Microsoft’s corresponding webpage.

OpenAI ChatGPT

The first to effectively burst upon the scene and command headlines, OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI chatbot is trained using petabytes of data from an open repository of books, articles, essays, documents and webpages known as the Common Crawl. Note, OpenAI also offers a more advanced (ChatGPT Plus) version, GPT-4, which takes advantage of an even larger training data set to offer improved conversation capabilities and more reliable and accurate results.

With various plugins and app versions, including the ChatGPT for iOS app and plugins for the Speak language tutor, Wolfram math engine and Zapier automation connector, the AI chatbot is easy to employ and can be integrated within existing processes and workflows to assist automating commonly completed tasks. The AI engine can also summarize large text-heavy files, create replies to queries, trigger specific processes in response to specific inputs, resolve math queries, create email messages, build lists and otherwise assist SMBs in addressing common business and workflow needs.

For Whom Might ChatGPT Be Best?

As the first well-known AI chatbot, ChatGPT is often imitated. As such, working with an original platform may prove best for many SMBs uninterested in pushing the technology envelope by adopting a cutting edge or potentially unproven solution. Although alternatives such as Bing Chat permit providing the ChatGPT engine with Internet access, a benefit not to be overlooked or undervalued, ChatGPT remains one of the AI chatbots users and businesses can trust, according to the Washington Post.

ChatGPT Pricing

While ChatGPT-3 is free, ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per user per month for guaranteed access during peak times. ChatGPT Plus (which employs an updated GPT-4 model) also requires token purchases, with input or query tokens priced at $0.03 per 1,000 tokens for inputs and queries and $0.006 per 1,000 tokens for output or completion results, with more advantageous bulk pricing available.

For more on ChatGPT and ChatGPT Plus, visit OpenAI’s webpage or browse the ChatGPT support center.

Chatsonic

Drawing upon OpenAI’s GPT-4 technology, Writesonic’s Chatsonic AI chatbot is trained using Google search in addition to the methods used building the GPT-4 model. Subsequently, Chatsonic benefits from access to current news, events and topics, which improve the tool’s results versus a model without access to such newer information. This is particularly true and pertinent when SMBs employ the chatbot to generate news articles, blogs on timely topics and similar content.

In addition to supporting different personalities, which can be adjusted to match different functions and include standard generative, interviewer and motivational coach styles, Chatsonic can share its conversations with individuals you authorize and assist developing search engine optimization keywords. Other features include the ability to interact with an organization’s Twitter/X and Slack accounts, connect via a Chrome browser extension and support for voice dictation, both when submitting queries and reading back completion results. The AI engine can also generate images using the Stable Diffusion deep-learning based text-to-image engine or OpenAI’s DALL-E system for creating art and images

For Whom Might Chatsonic Be Best?

Potentially a proper fit for SMBs seeking to automate creation of timely social media posts or the publication of news articles or similar material, Chatsonic is well-positioned to produce documents and information requiring current information. The basic Chatsonic app, powered by GPT-4, is free. Subscription versions are available that add additional features and functionality, including support for browser functionality, WordPress export capabilities, API access and numerous preformatted templates.

Chatsonic Pricing

A GPT-4.0 Business subscription costs $12.67 per month, supports a single user and includes up to 200,000 words. Numerous other plans are available, including an Unlimited plan for individuals that uses the GPT-3.5 model and runs $20 per user per month, although promotional pricing was available in summer 2023 reducing the cost of that plan 20 percent (to $16 per seat per month).

For more information on Chatsonic, visit the AI chatbot’s website.

You.com YouChat

Founded by a pair of former Salesforce scientists and natural language processing researchers, You.com introduced YouChat in December 2022. Similar to some other AI chatbots, YouChat features “multimodal” search, a fancy way of saying the software uses different search methods to better mimic the way humans think—including using audio, video, text and images—to generate rich, high-quality and more comprehensive results from initial queries.

The AI model is trained using several large-sale language models. You.com’s in-house proprietary technology and third-party apps are other components that feed the AI chatbot’s development and results. And a premium version (YouPro) further leverages advancements made using the GPT-4 platform.

You.com’s AI chatbot offers numerous features. The platform can generate text for business messages, social media content, blog posts, product and service descriptions, company announcements and similar material. Because YouChat naturally connects with other apps, including Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube and Wikipedia, the AI chatbot can include not just text but also images, diagrams and videos within the results it returns. The program can also service more traditional AI chatbot tasks, such as writing software code, selecting search engine optimization (SEO) words, researching historical facts and even generating images using the GPT-4-powered YouPro premium subscription.

For Whom Might YouChat Be Best?

SMBs seeking more comprehensive answers to queries, and query responses that include images, diagrams and charts as well as text, may prefer YouChat. The AI chatbot is also well positioned to fulfill SMB needs that include referencing Google’s search engine for answers, as the model possesses such access. Businesses needing to use an AI chatbot infrequently may also find several of the model’s 10 query-per-month limits don’t pose a problem, thereby making the free version a good fit.

You.com is continuously improving the AI chatbot. As should be expected with other AI chatbot providers, at some point the free versions may become subject to payment (either using tokens or a monthly subscription). Although You.com states on its webpage the company will never share your private search data, other competing AI chatbot models may require agreeing to permit query and response results to be recorded and tracked to assist improving the model or for advertising and promotional purposes, so be sure to always read the terms of use carefully.

YouChat Pricing

Basic YouChat access is currently free. iOS and Android versions are also available.

The YouPro subscription features an ad-free interface, unlimited GPT-4 chat searches, unlimited AI image and writing generation, priority access including during peak usage, early API access, personalized machine learning and chat history management, among other capabilities. While free versions include unlimited AI chat searches but limited (maximum of 10) AI image creation and writing completions, the YouPro subscription unlocks those limits for $14.99 per month, although promotional pricing in summer 2023 reduced the fee to just $9.99.

For more on YouChat or YouChat Pro, visit You.com’s webpage or visit the YouChat FAQ.

Which AI Chatbot Is Best For You?

Congratulations, first, on reading to the end. If you’ve stuck with this article this far, your AI chatbot interest is presumably serious. Certainly, these new AI models deserve such attention, considering their features, innovations and capabilities.

But just which AI chatbot model is best for you and your business depends upon several factors, as stated at the outset of this article. It’s for this reason we’ve included separate sections within the breakdowns of each AI model listing their specific strengths and characteristics that make each a potential attractive solution for an SMB. We’ve done the same with pricing, although subscription plans are subject both to change and promotional discounting.

Further complicating matters, numerous other AI chatbots are available and new entries are appearing regularly. Options include a variety of related one-offs—such as Writesonic and YouWrite—as well as entirely separate and competing AI chatbots—such as GitHub CoPilot, Perplexity and Poe. The rush to enter the AI chatbot land grab and stake a claim is underway, as evidenced by the fervor and frenetic developments and new product and upgrade announcements continually surfacing within the industry.

Should you still have questions, call Louisville Geek at 502-897-7577 or email [email protected]. We’re happy to put our knowledge to work for you and your small business.