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AI Chatbots

The Honest Limits

The honest limits of a chatbot: it cannot know what is not written down, judge a situation, take responsibility or replace a relationship with a person.

Updated 2 min readBy SpiderHunts Technologies

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Quick answer — TL;DR

It cannot know what is not written down, cannot judge a situation, cannot take responsibility, and cannot replace a relationship. Understanding those four prevents most disappointment.

It only knows what you told it

If your prices are not written anywhere, it cannot quote them. If your policy exists only in someone's head, it cannot explain it.

This is the single most common disappointment and it is entirely predictable. The bot is a retrieval system, and it can only retrieve what exists.

It cannot judge a situation

“Should I do X?” requires understanding a specific person's circumstances, weighing trade-offs and taking a view. It cannot do that and it should not try.

It can explain how something works. It cannot advise on what someone should do.

It cannot take responsibility

A commitment about price, timing or outcome has to come from someone who can honour it. A bot making promises creates obligations nobody agreed to.

That is why commitments belong with a person, always, however confident the answering gets.

It cannot replace a relationship

  • It will not remember a customer's history the way a person does
  • It cannot read that someone is upset about something they have not said
  • It cannot make an exception because this customer has been with you eight years
  • It cannot repair a relationship that has gone wrong

What it is genuinely good at

Answering the same twenty questions correctly, instantly, at any hour, without getting tired or irritated on the fortieth repetition.

That is a narrow capability and a genuinely valuable one, and it is worth being clear about which is which.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

The questions readers ask us after this guide.

Still have a question?

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Will it get better over time?

It improves as your content improves. It does not learn on its own from conversations — you close the gaps it reveals.

Can it handle unusual questions?

It answers what your content covers. Genuinely novel questions should reach a person, and it should say so rather than improvise.

Is it worth it given these limits?

For businesses answering the same questions repeatedly, comfortably. For businesses where every enquiry is unique, no.

Why tell us the limits?

Because the disappointments all come from mismatched expectations, and a customer who knows what they are buying stays one.

Keep reading

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Start here

Want to know if it fits your business?

The test is whether ten questions cover half your enquiries. Try it free at spideychat.com.

  1. You tell us what you needTwo minutes on the form, or a message on WhatsApp.
  2. A senior engineer reviews itAnd comes back with questions, a realistic range and an honest view on fit.
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