Parlei vs. chatbots
Isn’t this just a chatbot?
Fair question — they both talk. But a chatbot performs a script, and a Parlei speaks for a real person. It answers with what they’ve actually said, written, and published — about them, never as them — and then does what they allowed it to do.
| A chatbot | Your Parlei |
|---|---|
| Answers from whatever it can find | Answers only from what you gave it, and can say what an answer rests on |
| Knows nothing about the person asking | Knows both sides — you and the visitor — and weighs the connection |
| Lives on one website | Lives everywhere — your bio, your email signature, your card |
| Can only talk | Acts inside the limits you set — shares material, sends a quote, replies to mail, follows up |
| Every conversation disappears | Keeps a record of what it said, what it did, and what it relied on |
| Ends with “Was this helpful?” | Ends with “Here’s why you two should talk” |
The deeper difference is where the words come from, and what happens after them. A chatbot makes up answers on the spot from whatever it can find, and when the conversation ends, so does it. A Parlei answers from what its owner gave it and then does the thing that follows — hands over the document, sends the quote at the listed price, replies to the mail, comes back a week later — inside limits its owner set, and stops when something is theirs to decide.
That’s why we call it a spokesperson, as a service. A spokesperson speaks for you without being you, and only says what you’ve actually said. Companies have one. Now you do too.
Common questions
- How is Parlei different from a chatbot?
- A chatbot answers questions about a website and forgets every conversation. A Parlei speaks for a real person: it answers from what they gave it, it does what they allowed it to do — hand over a document, send a quote at the listed price, reply to mail from their own address, follow up — and it keeps a record of every bit of it. When something is the owner’s call, it stops and brings it to them.
- Does a Parlei pretend to be its owner?
- No. A Parlei always speaks about its owner — “She covers that in this piece” — and never as them. It doesn’t invent opinions, and it doesn’t claim more than the material supports. When it acts, it acts as itself on their behalf, inside rules they set.
- Is a Parlei just a gate in front of the calendar?
- No. Most visitors don’t need the owner’s time — they need an answer, a link, or an explanation, and the Parlei gives them that on the spot. Booking time is the exception path, not the point.
- What stops it doing something you didn’t want?
- Eight decisions — sharing material, offering a time, sending a quote, accepting a deal, discounting, publishing, making an introduction, and writing to someone first — each set to Never, Ask me first, Go ahead up to a limit, or Go ahead, with a money ceiling over all of them. Anything above those limits waits for you, with what happened and what it rests on. A chatbot has no such setting, because it was never going to do anything.
- Where does a Parlei live?
- One link — your parlei.to address. Put it in your bio, your email signature, your website, your business card. Wherever people find you, they can ask. It can speak for a company or a product too, not only a person.