'Yuki the annoying chatbot' photo (c) 2007, Dan Brickley - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Obviously, talking with a “chatbot” using artificial intelligence is a poor substitute for conversation practice with a real human.  In fact, at the level these bots function right now, I don’t think they’re particularly useful for anything than an occasional fun practice opportunity in the computer lab — except for one that I’m aware of, and I’ll share it at the end of this “The Best…” post.

As always, though, I’m happy to be shown a different perspective.

This list shares what I think are the best chatbots out there. I’m going to have my students try them all out later this month, and will report their assessments. The main difference that I can see is that, though most are text-only, the first two provide audio for the “bot side” of the conversation.

Here are my picks for The Best Online “Chatbots” For Practicing English:

Digital Einstein lets you talk to digital version of Albert Einstein.

SpolinBot is an “improvisational” chatbot. You can read more about it at Move over, Siri! Researchers develop improv-based Chatbot.

I’m now exploring the possibility of having students create their own for their classmates to use. There are some free tools that seem pretty easy to use, like Rebot. And Botsify will also let you create a audio one for Alexa.

Nualang is intriguing – for a relatively low price, teachers can create chat bots to help English Language Learners.

Chat with Santa Claus

BlenderBot is a chatbot that might be useful for ELLs for practice.

No-stress English Learning! 5 Chat Robots That’ll Never Judge You is from Fluent U.

QUAZEL LOOKS LIKE AN INTRIGUING TOOL FOR LEARNING LANGUAGES

“INWORLD” LOOKS LIKE A TERRIFIC SITE FOR TEACHERS & STUDENTS TO CREATE CHATBOTS FOR LEARNING

You may have heard about the ChatGPT.

Here’s a chatbot that lets you “talk” with “Albert Einstein.”

Chat Journal serves as an online journal.  But what makes it more interesting is that you can turn it into a Chat Bot that you can talk to about you’re feeling and get advice.

Team Station Mentor also provides advice through a chat bot, though this tool provides it through audio conversation.

D-ID is a chat bot that allows you to talk with it about a variety of topics through audio or text.

Character AI lets you create your own…characters to communicate via chatbots.

This video shares ideas how to use voice with ChatGPT as a partner to practice a language you’re learning. :

Banterai is like an audio chatbot with the avators of famous people.  You can call one for free and have a conversation (I had one with “Joe Biden”), but have to pay for more.

HeyPi is another chatbot.

Here’s one designed by an ELL teacher for students.

ChatAD lets you interact with, along with creating your own, chatbots.  The difference between it and many others is that it is also audio-based.

Suggestions and feedback, as always, are welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.