AI chatbot and WhatsApp glossary
The terms you'll meet when you put an AI agent on your website, WhatsApp and Telegram, each in a sentence first, then in a little more detail.
AI agents
- AI agentAn AI agent is software that uses a language model to decide its own steps and use tools, such as booking or looking up data, to finish a task.Read the definition
- AI chatbotAn AI chatbot is a program that answers people in a chat using a language model, in their own words, rather than from a fixed script of buttons.Read the definition
- RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)RAG is how an AI answers from your documents: it searches them for passages that fit a question, then writes its answer from those passages.Read the definition
- EmbeddingsEmbeddings are lists of numbers that capture the meaning of a piece of text, so texts with similar meanings can be found even when the words differ.Read the definition
- Vector databaseA vector database stores embeddings and finds the ones closest to a question quickly, which is how a chatbot finds the right passage in your documents.Read the definition
- ChunkingChunking is cutting long documents into short passages before they're indexed, so a search can return just the part that answers a question.Read the definition
- Knowledge baseA knowledge base is the content an AI chatbot answers from: your website pages, documents, product catalogue and any connected data.Read the definition
- HallucinationA hallucination is an AI answer that sounds right but is made up, such as a price, a policy or a promise that isn't in the business's content.Read the definition
- System promptA system prompt is the standing instructions an AI chatbot follows in every conversation: who it works for, how it speaks and what it must never do.Read the definition
- WhatsApp Business APIThe WhatsApp Business API, officially the WhatsApp Business Platform, connects a business's WhatsApp number to software instead of the phone app.Read the definition
- WABA (WhatsApp Business Account)A WABA is the WhatsApp Business Account in Meta that holds a business's API phone numbers, message templates, messaging limits and billing.Read the definition
- WhatsApp 24-hour windowThe WhatsApp 24-hour window is the time after a customer's last message or call in which a business may reply with any message, not just a template.Read the definition
- Template messageA template message is a WhatsApp message a business writes in advance and Meta approves, the only kind it can send outside the 24-hour window.Read the definition
- WhatsApp message categoriesWhatsApp template messages are marketing, utility or authentication; Meta prices each category differently, by the customer's country.Read the definition
- Service messageA service message is a business's reply inside WhatsApp's 24-hour window; since October 2026 each number gets 1,000 free a month, then they're charged.Read the definition
- WhatsApp coexistenceCoexistence lets a business use the same WhatsApp number in both the WhatsApp Business app and the API, with chats kept in sync between them.Read the definition
Customer service
- Human hand-offHuman hand-off is when an AI chatbot passes a conversation to a person on the team, with the whole chat, and stops replying to that customer.Read the definition
- Shared inboxA shared inbox is one place where a team answers customer conversations together, with each chat assigned, visible to everyone and answered once.Read the definition
- CSAT (customer satisfaction score)CSAT is a customer satisfaction score: the share of customers who rate an interaction as good, usually from a short rating question after it ends.Read the definition
- Lead captureLead capture is collecting a potential customer's contact details, such as name and email, so the business can follow up.Read the definition
- Opt-in and opt-outOpt-in is a customer agreeing to receive messages from a business; opt-out is them asking to stop, which the business must honour.Read the definition
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