AJAX is a technique for accessing web servers from a web page using a combination of XMLHttpRequest objects, JavaScript, and HTML DOM to create fast and dynamic web pages without reloading. Server-sent events allow a web page to automatically receive updates from a server, sending data to the client as it is available without the client requesting it. Web sockets provide full-duplex real-time communication over a single TCP connection between a web client and server, enabling both sides to continuously send data to each other.