Chatbot In Python

A chatbot is a piece of AI-based software that can converse with humans in their own language. These chatbots often connect with humans through audio or written means, and they can easily mimic human languages to speak with them in a human-like manner. The Rule-based approach teaches a chatbot to answer queries based on a set of pre-determined rules that it was taught when it was first created. These predetermined rules can be simple or complex. Self-learning bots, as the name implies, are bots that can train on their own. These take advantage of cutting-edge technology like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to learn from examples and behaviors.

There are several ways to create a chatbot in Python, but the most common one is to use a library called ChatterBot.

Here is an example of how you can use ChatterBot to create a simple chatbot in Python:

pip install chatterbot

from chatterbot import ChatBot
from chatterbot.trainers import ChatterBotCorpusTrainer

chatbot = ChatBot('My Chatbot')

trainer = ChatterBotCorpusTrainer(chatbot)

trainer.train('chatterbot.corpus.english.greetings',
              'chatterbot.corpus.english.conversations')

while True:
    request = input('You: ')
    response = chatbot.get_response(request)
    print('Chatbot: ', response)

This will create a chatbot that uses a corpus of pre-defined greetings and conversation prompts to generate responses. You can train the chatbot with your own data by providing a list of strings to the trainer.train method.

In this article, you will learn How to Make a Chatbot in Python Step By Step.

1. Prepare the Dependencies
2. Import Classes
3. Create and Train the Chatbot
4. Communicate with the Python Chatbot
5. Train your Python Chatbot with a Corpus of Data.

How to Make a Chatbot in Python?

In the past few years, chatbots in Python have become wildly popular in the tech and business sectors. These intelligent bots are so adept at imitating natural human languages and conversing with humans, that companies across various industrial sectors are adopting them. From e-commerce firms to healthcare institutions, everyone seems to be leveraging this nifty tool to drive business benefits. In this article, we will learn about chatbots using Python and how to make chatbots in python.

What is a Chatbot?

A chatbot is an AI-based software designed to interact with humans in their natural languages. These chatbots usually converse via auditory or textual methods, and they can effortlessly mimic human languages to communicate with human beings in a human-like manner. A chatbot is arguably one of the best applications of natural language processing.

Chatbots can be categorized into two primary variants – Rule-Based and Self-learning.

The Rule-based approach trains a chatbot to answer questions based on a set of pre-determined rules on which it was initially trained. These set rules can either be very simple or very complex. While rule-based chatbots can handle simple queries quite well, they usually fail to process more complicated queries/requests.

As the name suggests, self-learning bots are chatbots that can learn on their own. These leverage advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to train themselves from instances and behaviors. Naturally, these chatbots are much smarter than rule-based bots. Self-learning bots can be further divided into two categories – Retrieval Based or Generative.

1. Retrieval-based Chatbots

A retrieval-based chatbot is one that functions on predefined input patterns and set responses. Once the question/pattern is entered, the chatbot uses a heuristic approach to deliver the appropriate response. The retrieval-based model is extensively used to design goal-oriented chatbots with customized features like the flow and tone of the bot to enhance the customer experience.

2. Generative Chatbots

Unlike retrieval-based chatbots, generative chatbots are not based on predefined responses – they leverage seq2seq neural networks. This is based on the concept of machine translation where the source code is translated from one language to another language. In the seq2seq approach, the input is transformed into an output.

The first chatbot dates back to 1966 when Joseph Weizenbaum created ELIZA which could imitate the language of a psychotherapist in only 200 lines of code. However, thanks to the rapid advancement of technology, we’ve come a long way from scripted chatbots to chatbots in python today. 

Chatbot in Today’s Generation

Today, we have smart AI-powered Chatbots that use natural language processing (NLP) to understand human commands (text and voice) and learn from experience. Chatbots have become a staple customer interaction tool for companies and brands that have an active online presence (website and social network platforms).

Chatbots using python are a nifty tool since they facilitate instant messaging between the brand and the customer. Think about Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Aren’t these just wonderful? Aren’t you already curious to learn how to make a chatbot in Python? 

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Essentially, the chatbot using Python is programmed to take in the information you provide to it and then analyze it with the help of complex AI algorithms, and provide you with either a written or verbal response. Since these bots can learn from behavior and experiences, they can respond to a wide range of queries and commands. 

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Although chatbot in python has already begun to dominate the tech scene at present, Gartner predicts that by 2020, chatbots will handle nearly 85% of customer-brand interactions.

In light of the increasing popularity and adoption of chatbots in the industry, you can increase your market value by learning how to make a chatbot in Python – one of the most extensively used programming languages in the world.

Today, we will teach you how to make a simple chatbot in Python using the ChatterBot Python library.

ChatterBot Library

ChatterBot is a Python library that is designed to deliver automated responses to user inputs. It makes use of a combination of ML algorithms to generate many different types of responses. This feature allows developers to build chatbots using python that can converse with humans and deliver appropriate and relevant responses. Not just that, the ML algorithms help the bot to improve its performance with experience. 

Another excellent feature of ChatterBot is its language independence. The library is designed in a way that makes it possible to train your bot in multiple programming languages.

How does ChatterBot function?

When a user enters a specific input in the chatbot (developed on ChatterBot), the bot saves the input along with the response, for future use. This data (of collected experiences) allows the chatbot to generate automated responses each time a new input is fed into it.

The program chooses the most-fitting response from the closest statement that matches the input, and then delivers a response from the already-known selection of statements and responses. Over time, as the chatbot engages in more interactions, the accuracy of the response improves. You may create your own chatbot project to understand the details of this technology. 

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How to Make A Chatbot In Python?

You may have this question in your mind, how to create a chatbot? We’ll take a step-by-step approach and break down the process of building a Python chatbot. 

To build a chatbot in Python, you have to import all the necessary packages and initialize the variables you want to use in your chatbot project. Also, remember that when working with text data, you need to perform data preprocessing on your dataset before designing an ML model.

This is where tokenizing helps with text data – it helps fragment the large text dataset into smaller, readable chunks (like words). Once that is done, you can also go for lemmatization which transforms a word into its lemma form. Then it creates a pickle file to store the python objects that are used for predicting the responses of the bot. 

Another vital part of the chatbot development process is creating the training and testing datasets. 

Now that we’ve covered the basics of chatbot development in Python, let’s dive deeper into the actual process! It will help you understand how to create a chatbot.

1. Prepare the Dependencies

The first step in creating a chatbot in Python with the ChatterBot library is to install the library in your system. It is best if you create and use a new Python virtual environment for the installation. To do so, you have to write and execute this command in your Python terminal:

 You can also install ChatterBot’s latest development version directly from GitHub. For this, you will have to write and execute the command.

To install and use ChatterBot in Python, you will need to have Python and pip installed on your system.

First, install the ChatterBot library using pip:

pip install chatterbot

Then, create a new Python file and import the following libraries:

from chatterbot import ChatBot
from chatterbot.trainers import ChatterBotCorpusTrainer

Next, create a new ChatBot object and set the training data and name:

chatbot = ChatBot('My ChatBot')

You can then create a new trainer for the chatbot and set the training data:

trainer = ChatterBotCorpusTrainer(chatbot)
trainer.train('chatterbot.corpus.english.greetings',
              'chatterbot.corpus.english.conversations')

Finally, you can start the chatbot and interact with it:

response = chatbot.get_response('Hello, how are you today?')
print(response)

This will output a response from the chatbot, such as “I’m doing well, thank you for asking.”

Now that your setup is ready, we can move on to the next step to create a chatbot using python. 

2. Import Classes

Importing classes is the second step in the Python chatbot creation process. All you need to do is import two classes – ChatBot from chatterbot and ListTrainer from chatterbot. trainers.

3. Create and Train the Chatbot

This is the third step in creating a chatbot in python. The chatbot you are creating will be an instance of the class “ChatBot.” After creating a new ChatterBot instance, you can train the bot to improve its performance. Training ensures that the bot has enough knowledge to get started with specific responses to specific inputs. You have to execute the following command now:

Here, the argument (that corresponds to the parameter name) represents the name of your Python chatbot. If you wish to disable the bot’s ability to learn after the training, you can include the “read_only=True” command. The command “logic_adapters” denotes the list of adapters used to train the chatbot.

While the “chatterbot.logic.MathematicalEvaluation” helps the bot to solve math problems, the “chatterbot.logic.BestMatch” helps it to choose the best match from the list of responses already provided.

Since you have to provide a list of responses, you can do it by specifying the lists of strings that can be later used to train your Python chatbot, and find the best match for each query. Here’s an example of responses you can train your chatbot using python to learn:

You can also create and train the bot by writing an instance of “ListTrainer” and supplying it with a list of strings like so:

Now, your Python chatbot is ready to communicate.

4. Communicate with the Python Chatbot

To interact with your Python chatbot, you can use the .get_response() function. This is how it should look while communicating:

However, it is essential to understand that the chatbot using python might not know how to answer all your questions. Since its knowledge and training is still very limited, you have to give it time and provide more training data to train it further.

5. Train your Python Chatbot with a Corpus of Data

In this last step of how to make a chatbot in Python, for training your python chatbot even further, you can use an existing corpus of data. Here’s an example of how to train your Python chatbot with a corpus of data provided by the bot itself:

Code snippet source

The good thing is that ChatterBot offers this functionality in many different languages. So, you can also specify a subset of a corpus in a language you would prefer. This is how we create chatbots in Python. 

Benefits of a Chatbot

We have covered how to make a chatbot in this article. Now we must understand its benefits to grasp its full utilization. Chatbots Programming is very useful, especially when it comes to building good relationships with customers. Strong connections can be built with the help of chatbots because it helps you to interact with the visitors of your website directly. With the help of chatbot programming, you not only achieve all the marketing goals but also increase sales and better customer service.

Chatbot programming comes with several benefits – 

1. Increase in customer interaction – Businesses may increase consumer interaction by using chatbots. Customer interaction may be pushed based on customer data and enhanced engagement by deploying conversational AI chatbots. This process is very important after you understand how to make a chatbot. Additionally, since bots may provide regular responses, you can avoid giving clients useless information. Additionally, clients are more likely to stay on your website and continue the dialogue if they receive pertinent and prompt replies.
2. Generating more leads – The ability to engage consumers with individualized messaging during their journey is a strength of today’s highly evolved bots. In reality, your company may employ chatbots to help clients make rapid decisions by generating leads. In order to convince the consumers of lead generation and greater conversion rates. 
3. Consumer service costs are reduced – Chatbot implementation is an investment in reducing the cost of customer support. You may save extra money by investing in chatbots instead of employing more support staff. A firm may cut expenses in a variety of ways with chatbots:

Salaries

Infrastructure

Training

Similarly, using AI chatbots for customer care has various advantages;

• Reduce chat availability at peak times.
• Automate common business operations
• Allow for new customer service approaches

Additionally, AI bots may be expanded without incurring any additional expenditures during business peaks. In addition, bots are cost-saving and improve the bottom line by ensuring that clients have an easier and more consistent brand experience.

1. Monitor data to get consumer insights – By tracking user data, a chatbot project is a great way to study customer behavior and follow purchase trends.  Using this information, businesses may sell their products in new ways and reach a wider audience.  Similar to this, bots may be employed to gather input via straightforward questions, improve services, or enhance websites.
2. It helps with a Conversational Marketing Strategy – Real-time customer interactions are at the heart of conversational marketing, which aims to assist and drive customers along the sales funnel. It may assist your company in developing genuine consumer interactions and real experiences. By engaging with customers through customized messaging and clever chatbots, firms using chatbots for marketing may increase conversion rates.
3. Enhance customer services and meet consumer expectations – Customers anticipate prompt replies to their inquiries or concerns. As chatbots become more intelligent, businesses may utilize them to satisfy customers’ expectations by automating some of the typical interactions. The goal remains the same, whether you employ an Android chatbot: to provide value to consumers through automation. Customers won’t have to wait for humans to communicate with them thanks to automation, which is one of the chatbot’s most important use cases. This will undoubtedly improve their experience with the business and increase retention.
4. Create a Smooth Customer Experience – No firm wants to lose prospects midway through a sales funnel since that is never a desirable scenario. Customers may choose not to buy for a variety of reasons, such as a lengthy checkout procedure or unstated fees. Chatbots can be useful in assisting businesses in lowering customer turnover and improving the customer experience. By writing the proper bot scripts, you may successfully interact with clients at various points in their journeys and respond to their questions

What skills do I need to build a chatbot?

Developers of chatbots must possess a diverse range of skills. They must have a thorough understanding of platforms and programming languages in order to efficiently work on Chatbot development. Developers of chatbots should be well-versed in Learning Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, and Natural Language Processing. Multilingual background with programming experience in languages such as Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, and others. The programmers must be conversant with the platforms in order to improve the quality of the chatbot.

What is a rule-based chatbot?

Instead of using AI, a rule-based bot utilizes a tree-like flow to assist guests with their questions. This indicates that the bot will lead the guest through a series of follow-up questions in order to arrive at the proper solution. You have complete control over the dialogue because the structures and responses are all pre-defined. So, why should you use a chatbot with rules? Smaller numbers and simple inquiries, such as booking a table at a restaurant or inquiring about operating hours, are ideal for rule-based chatbots.

Conclusion

What we’ve illustrated here is just one among the many ways how to make a chatbot in Python. You can also use NLTK, another resourceful Python library to create a Python chatbot. And although what you learned here is a very basic chatbot in Python having hardly any cognitive skills, it should be enough to help you understand the anatomy of chatbots.

Once you understand the design of a chatbot using python fully well, you can experiment with it using different tools and commands to make it even smarter.