SmartAgent
SmartAgent is a software application created by Synthetix, a UK-based Software company.
Intended for use in a customer service role, SmartAgent enables website visitors to interact with a virtual representation of a human being through the use of NATURAL Language. Users type questions or comments into the SmartAgent interface, normally represented as a pop-up box on the website, and the software selects a reply from a knowledge-base of potential responses.
Each conversational response includes a tagged action of some kind, which include the initiation of a data capture process, launching a survey, escalating queries to human beings via e-mail or simply changing the opening page (which sits behind the popup) to a helpful URL.
SmartAgent has been available since 2001, and is an early example of an AJAX application - server interactions are performed discretely without visible page refreshes.