Natural Interaction
How Chatbots Work
A chatbot is a spectacular guessing machine. Come see the guess.
The dog chased the
The model holds a ranked guess for “The dog chased the ___”. Pick the next word, watch how sure it is.
It finishes your sentence
Give a chatbot a few words and it predicts what comes next, one piece at a time, over and over. That single trick, done at enormous scale, becomes conversation.
It's all about probability
For every spot, the model holds a ranked list of likely next words. 'The dog chased the ___' lights up cat, ball, squirrel, not refrigerator. You're about to feel that list yourself.
Confidence, not certainty
The model is never sure. It picks among good options, which is why it can be creative, and why it can confidently be wrong. Understanding that is AI literacy.
Ready to teach this?
These classroom modules turn this journey into a full lesson: script, activity, slides, and a private AI tutor.
AI tutor is turned off for this class
Use the CS124 lectures, notes, and assignments below to keep learning.