SmartAgent

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SmartAgent is a software application created by Synthetix, a UK-based software company, in 2001 and is one of the earliest examples of commercial chatterbot development. Although automated chat technologies debuted in the 1960s, few systems were developed to a level where useful commercial deployment was a realistic possibility.

Intended for use in a customer service role, SmartAgent enables website visitors to interact with a virtual representation of a human being through the use of Natural Language. Users type questions or comments into the SmartAgent interface, normally represented as a pop-up box on the website, and the software selects a reply from a knowledge-base of potential responses.

Each conversational response includes a tagged action of some kind, which include the initiation of a data capture process, launching a survey or escalating queries to human beings.

SmartAgent is an early example of an AJAX application - server interactions are performed without visible page refreshes.

Modern releases of the SmartAgent architecture have dropped the emphasis on convincing conversational chat to focus on customer service, although Synthetix have retained classical chat-based software through their marketing-focused 'brandAgent' product.