Smokers who want help quitting but are unwilling or unable to seek face-to-face counseling may soon get assistance from an online "chatbot," New Scientist reported May 25.

Dutch researchers and stop-smoking experts have developed the female "chatbot" to provide answers to smokers' questions typed into a website chatroom. A successful similar device was developed at Northeastern University to encouraged older men to exercise more. "A virtual coach is always there, even at night," said Betsy van Dijk of the University of Twente.

Free advice from the smoking chatbot will be available 24 hours a day; the chatbot's answers and facial expressions are based on replies to real-life queries to the antismoking group Stivoro.

The Dutch group also is exploring the creation of a chatbot for alcoholics.