The next day, Jack and Jill's mom drove them to the mall to buy new sneakers. As they walked through the entrance, Jack spotted a large touchscreen directory.

"Hey Jill, look!" He pointed at the screen. "It says 'Ask me for directions!' I bet that's a chatbot."

Jill approached the screen and tapped the "Help" button. A friendly message appeared: "Hi there! I'm ShopGuide. How can I help you today?"

"We're looking for the shoe store," Jill typed.

Almost instantly, a map appeared with a red line showing the path from their current location to three different shoe stores. "Would you like information about any of these stores?" the chatbot asked.

"That's definitely a chatbot," Jack said. "It's helping people find stores without needing a human guide at every directory."

As they followed the map toward the shoe store, their mom's phone pinged. "The doctor's office just confirmed my appointment through their chat system," she explained. "It asked if I wanted to keep my appointment tomorrow at 2:00, and I just had to reply 'yes.'"

"That's another chatbot!" Jill exclaimed, pulling out her notebook to jot it down. "It's handling appointment confirmations."

When they reached the shoe store, Jack tried on several pairs of sneakers while Jill wandered over to the store's website kiosk. She tapped on the screen and a chat window opened in the corner. "Need help finding the perfect fit? Chat with ShoeFit Assistant!"

Curious, Jill typed: "How do I know if basketball shoes fit correctly?"

The chatbot responded with a detailed answer about leaving thumb-width space at the toe, ensuring the heel doesn't slip, and trying shoes on late in the day when feet are slightly swollen.

"Mom! Jack! Come see this," Jill called. "This store has a chatbot that helps you choose shoes!"

Jack joined her, new sneakers in hand. "You know what? I bet we use chatbots all the time without even realizing it."

Their mother nodded. "You're right. When I called the bank the other day, I spoke to an automated system that understood my questions before transferring me to a human."

"That's a voice-based chatbot," Jill said, writing it down.

After purchasing Jack's sneakers, they stopped for ice cream. While enjoying their treats, Jack pulled out his phone and opened his favorite gaming app. "Even this game has a helper bot that gives tips and answers questions about how to play."

"Let's make a list of all the chatbots we encounter for the rest of the day," suggested Jill.

By the time they arrived home that evening, their list included:

- Mall directory assistant
- Doctor's office appointment reminder
- Shoe store shopping assistant
- Bank phone system
- Video game helper
- Weather app that answered questions conversationally
- Customer service chat on a website
- Smart speaker at home that answered questions

"Eight different chatbots in just one day!" Jack marveled as they added the list to their project notes.

"And those are just the ones we noticed," Jill pointed out. "Chatbots really are everywhere, helping people get information and complete tasks more quickly."

"It's like they're the invisible helpers of the digital world," Jack said thoughtfully.

As they finished organizing their notes, Jill looked up with excitement. "You know what would make our science project even better? If we could actually build our own simple chatbot!"

Jack's eyes widened. "Can we really do that? I thought it would be super complicated."

"Ms. Chen mentioned there are some tools designed for students," Jill recalled. "Let's ask her about it tomorrow."