Chatbots are intelligent conversational agents that can interact with users through natural languages. As chatbots can perform a variety of tasks, many companies have committed numerous resources to develop and deploy chatbots to enhance various business processes. However, we lack an up-to-date critical review that thoroughly examines both state-of-the-art technologies and innovative applications of chatbots. In this review, we not only critically analyze the various computational approaches used to develop state-of-the-art chatbots, but also thoroughly review the usability and applications of chatbots for various business sectors. We also identify gaps in chatbot-related studies and propose new research directions to address the shortcomings of existing studies and applications. Our review advances both academic research and practical business applications of state-of-the-art chatbots. We provide guidance for practitioners to fully realize the business value of chatbots and assist in making sensible decisions related to the development and deployment of chatbots in various business contexts. Researchers interested in the design and development of chatbots can also gain useful insights from our critical review and identify fruitful research topics and future research directions based on the research gaps discussed herein.

中文翻译：

---

对最先进的聊天机器人设计和应用的批判性审查

聊天机器人是智能对话代理，可以通过自然语言与用户交互。由于聊天机器人可以执行各种任务，许多公司已投入大量资源来开发和部署聊天机器人，以增强各种业务流程。但是，我们缺乏对聊天机器人的最新技术和创新应用进行全面检查的最新评论。在这篇评论中，我们不仅批判性地分析了用于开发最先进聊天机器人的各种计算方法，而且还彻底回顾了聊天机器人在各个业务领域的可用性和应用。我们还确定了与聊天机器人相关的研究中的差距，并提出了新的研究方向，以解决现有研究和应用的缺点。我们的审查促进了最先进聊天机器人的学术研究和实际商业应用。我们为从业者提供指导，以充分实现聊天机器人的商业价值，并协助在各种商业环境中做出与聊天机器人开发和部署相关的明智决策。对聊天机器人的设计和开发感兴趣的研究人员还可以从我们的批判性评论中获得有用的见解，并根据本文讨论的研究空白确定富有成果的研究主题和未来的研究方向。