The market is flooded with "AI chatbots" that promise to revolutionize your business. But there's a massive difference between a rule-based chatbot, a general-purpose LLM wrapper, and a custom AI agent. Understanding this distinction is critical to making the right investment.
Rule-Based Chatbots
These follow decision trees. If the user says X, respond with Y. They're predictable but brittle — any question outside the script gets a "Sorry, I don't understand." They're fine for very simple FAQ use cases but break down fast.
General-Purpose LLM Wrappers
Tools like ChatGPT wrappers can handle natural conversation but have no knowledge of your business, can't take actions in your systems, and may hallucinate information. They're impressive demos but unreliable for production business use.
Purpose-Built AI Agents
This is what we build. Custom agents that combine LLM intelligence with your business data, system integrations, and guardrails. They know your products, follow your rules, take actions in your systems, and escalate when appropriate.
How to Decide
If you need simple FAQ deflection, a chatbot might suffice. If you need an intelligent system that can handle complex conversations, take actions, and integrate with your workflow — you need a custom AI agent.