A contest involving one of these things named for Eugene Goostman fooled 30% of people at the University of Reading in 2014.   
One of these things was supposedly used to create the 1984 book The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed.  The Loebner Prize is awarded annually to these things.  A contest involving one of these things named for Eugene Goostman fooled 30% of people at the University of Reading in 2014.   An entertainment-focused one of these things was developed by Rollo Carpenter and is known as (*) Jabberwacky.  Subtypes of these things called Scramblers were popular on AOL in the 90s.   One of these programs called PARRY was connected with another one in 1972 via ARPANET.  Joseph Weizenbaum created DOCTOR for one of these things which was modeled after a psychotherapist.  Some of these programs are designed to pass the Turing Test.  For 10 points, ELIZA is an example of what type of program that might automatically respond to your IMs?
One of these things was supposedly used to create the 1984 book The Policeman's Beard is Half Constructed.  
chatbots [or chatterbots]