  This research provides an in-depth comprehensive review of the progress of
chatbot technology over time, from the initial basic systems relying on rules
to today's advanced conversational bots powered by artificial intelligence.
Spanning many decades, the paper explores the major milestones, innovations,
and paradigm shifts that have driven the evolution of chatbots. Looking back at
the very basic statistical model in 1906 via the early chatbots, such as ELIZA
and ALICE in the 1960s and 1970s, the study traces key innovations leading to
today's advanced conversational agents, such as ChatGPT and Google Bard. The
study synthesizes insights from academic literature and industry sources to
highlight crucial milestones, including the introduction of Turing tests,
influential projects such as CALO, and recent transformer-based models. Tracing
the path forward, the paper highlights how natural language processing and
machine learning have been integrated into modern chatbots for more
sophisticated capabilities. This chronological survey of the chatbot landscape
provides a holistic reference to understand the technological and historical
factors propelling conversational AI. By synthesizing learnings from this
historical analysis, the research offers important context about the
developmental trajectory of chatbots and their immense future potential across
various field of application which could be the potential take ways for the
respective research community and stakeholders.
