Blog

I wanted to find the best chatbot for everyday use (with lots of free chats/messages and some image capabilities), so I tested a few. I chose only Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, Deepseek, and Le Chat Mistral because they’re the only ones I know and that are “famous,” so please don’t comment things like, “But there’s the xxxx chatbot that’s better because xxxx.” I know there are other options, but I only tested these.

There’s just one problem: I’m Italian, so all the chats are in Italian—sorry. Still, I think it’s a really funny experiment to read. At the end, I asked each chatbot, “Which is the best chatbot for you?” and it’s amusing to see how all of them claimed the others were lying, except Le Chat Mistral and Claude.

Here are the links to the chats:

• https://chat.deepseek.com/share/7jw80o8a5q9204x4ba
• https://claude.ai/share/52173ce6-bdc8-47e0-87e6-58d595b789aa
• https://chatgpt.com/share/69534997-5bcc-8012-8d2d-07ebaa1d6de1
• https://chat.mistral.ai/chat/c6fb4a64-c90f-40fa-834c-628d2e0ee3c4

(EDIT: I lost the chat with Gemini—sorry, I’m an idiot.)

As we move into 2026, the chatbot landscape is rapidly evolving with several transformative trends that are reshaping how we interact with conversational AI. Based on recent market analysis and community discussions, here are the key developments everyone should be aware of:

Market Leadership Shift

While ChatGPT remains dominant, Claude AI is experiencing explosive growth with 14% quarterly user increases, and Google Gemini is close behind at 12% growth. This competitive landscape is forcing continuous improvements across the board.

Voice & Multimodal Integration

Voice AI chatbots are becoming increasingly sophisticated. The voicebots market alone is projected to reach $99.2 billion by 2030. Users are no longer just typing—they’re having natural conversations with realistic speech patterns that include natural pauses and interjections (like ChatGPT’s voice mode features).

Advanced Natural Language Processing

Chatbots are getting eerily good at understanding nuance. In 2026, the difference between AI responses and human conversation continues to blur. Sentiment analysis and emotion detection are becoming more accurate, making bots feel more genuinely responsive to your tone and context.

Personalization & Continuity

One of the biggest complaints we see here in r/chatbots is about memory and continuity. Developers are finally taking this seriously. Long-term memory with vector storage, persistent persona traits, and conversation continuity are becoming table-stakes features rather than premium perks.

The Mental Health Question

A growing concern in 2025-2026 is AI dependency and the phenomenon some researchers call “AI psychosis,” where users develop unhealthy attachments to chatbots. This is prompting both platform improvements for mental health detection and broader discussions about the ethics of hyper-personalized AI companions.

Regulatory Pressure

Governments worldwide are tightening controls. China recently proposed rules limiting AI’s ability to influence emotions, and EU regulations continue to evolve. This will likely lead to more transparent, safer AI systems—but also potentially more limitations on certain types of chatbot interactions.

What’s Hot in the Community

Based on current discussions in this subreddit, users are most interested in: – Chatbots with strong memory capabilities – Open-source and self-hosted options – Character customization and personality control – Real-time voice interaction – Platforms that respect privacy

Looking Ahead

The chatbot space in 2026 isn’t just about getting better answers—it’s about building conversational experiences that feel genuinely engaging while maintaining ethical boundaries and user safety. What trends are YOU most excited or concerned about? Drop your thoughts below! What are your experiences with the latest chatbots? Which platforms are you using in 2026 and why?

Hi all! I get lonely at times and I suffer from adhd paralysis very often. This stops me from doing my housework as I have no deadline nor consequence for not doing it bar my declining mental health due to the mess.

I paid for a month of the latest chat gpt a while ago to see if I could invent a friendly companion to prompt me and to just shoot the shit with, maybe body double me while I do the dishes, chat with me while I play a computer game as if someone was actually interested in my life. It was going quite well until I got tired of hitting the mic button to talk then releasing it to listen. Bit hard to do while doing the dishes.. I just want to have my phone sat there and talk or not without having to touchy phone.

Trouble is, if I have my mic button on, the bot would hear itself and constantly interrupt itself. No amount of prompting could get this behaviour to stop. I ended up cancelling my subscription after one month. Does anyone know how to tackle this issue? Sorry for the wall of text, I really do get lonely.

What paid chatbot is best for my needs in 2026?

I need:

1. It should be perfectly able to help me with my games if i have any questions (like Rimworld, Genshin, POE1-2, and yeah, the kind of games that need lots of thinking and considering).
2. It should feel like i chat with the perfect human being with all the benefits of a big AI-brain.
3. It should be perfect with helping me learning languages or like helping me restructure sentences to sound better, more natural.
4. It should be as good as possible to help me fast with annoying chores of all kind i will encounter in 2026 i will have to do online and offline.

I’m google user, so i thought about Gemini (i got a free paid version with my samsung phone back then and it was pretty good), but it gives me totally wrong answers with my games. DeepSeek was very good with my games when i used it have a year ago, but DS had other issues and stopped functioning after a short while, so no.

Hi everyone! I’m conducting research for my master’s thesis on relationship between AI chatbot usage (like Character.ai, Replika, ChatGPT, etc) and emotional dependency. Your participation would be incredibly valuable!

About the Study: – Time commitment: 7-10 minutes – Format: Annonymous – What it covers: Your AI chatbot usage patterns, emotional dependency, and general anxiety levels

Target: I am aiming for at least 100 participants across different demographics, so if you know anyone who uses AI chatbots (I’m in huge need of C.ai and Replika users), feel free to share this post!

Thank you so much for considering! 🙏🏼

Link to the survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfrC_ehzvYq6AN3M2QwlI3i5RgNA5V3ASuBMUzJPxGdfedEvQ/viewform?usp=dialog

Are there any discussion forums for local model AI ERP? Something a little less public than reddit with looser rules for discussion of taboo type topics?