MetaLang IntroducingAKnowledge-Based Conversational Agent Bill DeSmedt Amber Productions

MetaLangMetaLang

Introducing

A

Knowledge-Based

Conversational Agent

Bill DeSmedtAmber Productions

Natural Language UnderstandingNatural Language Understanding

• The Test according to Turing

Natural Language UnderstandingNatural Language Understanding

• The Test according to Turing

• The World’s Most Famous Parlor Trick

• String Matching (a.k.a. Keyword Spotting)

• Pronoun Swapping ("you" <=> "me")

• Regurgitating Previously Saved Remarks

• Catch-all Stock Responses

Natural Language UnderdoneNatural Language Underdone

ELIZA’s Gambits: String-MatchingELIZA’s Gambits: String-Matching

*** WELCOME TO ELIZA – STATE YOUR PROBLEM ***

YOU : My mother is coming to visit.

ELIZA : TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY.

SADDAM : This will be the mother of all battles!

ELIZA : TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY.

EDISON : Necessity is the mother of invention.

ELIZA : TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY.

ELIZA’s Gambits: Pronoun SwapsELIZA’s Gambits: Pronoun Swaps

*** WELCOME TO ELIZA - STATE YOUR PROBLEM ***

YOU : My boyfriend made me come here.

ELIZA : YOUR BOYFRIEND MADE YOU COME HERE?

YOU : My, is that all you can say?

ELIZA : YOUR, IS THAT ALL I CAN SAY?

ELIZA’s Gambits: RegurgitationELIZA’s Gambits: Regurgitation

*** WELCOME TO ELIZA - STATE YOUR PROBLEM ***

ELIZA : WHAT DOES YOUR FATHER MAKE YOU THINK OF?

YOU : Bullies.

ELIZA : DOES THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND MADE YOU COME HERE?

YOU : This armchair is really uncomfortable.

ELIZA : DOES THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND MADE YOU COME HERE?

ELIZA’s Gambits: Catch-AllsELIZA’s Gambits: Catch-Alls

*** WELCOME TO ELIZA - STATE YOUR PROBLEM ***

YOU : Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.

ELIZA : WHAT MAKES YOU SAY THAT?

PORTIA: The quality of mercy is not strained.

ELIZA : PLEASE GO ON.

PORTIA: It falleth as the gentle rain from heaven.

ELIZA : DOES THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND MADE YOU COME HERE?

But...But...

What’sthe

Alternative?

Natural Language UnderstandingNatural Language Understanding

A Bundle of Technologies ...A Bundle of Technologies ...

Parsing: Can’t see the forest for the treesParsing: Can’t see the forest for the trees

Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow.”Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow.”

Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow.”Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow.”

Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow.”Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow.”

Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow.”Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow.”

Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow!”Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow!”

Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow!”Parsing ... “Time flies like an arrow!”

Parsing ... How about this one?Parsing ... How about this one?

Persons applying for marriage licenses wearing shorts or pedal-pushers will

be denied licenses.

Forty possible parses!

Discourse: What’s going on around here?Discourse: What’s going on around here?

Discourse: What’s going on around here?Discourse: What’s going on around here?

• Topicality Trackingn Semantic Priming for Disambiguationn Novelty Detection for Prosodics

Discourse: What’s going on around here?Discourse: What’s going on around here?

• Topicality Trackingn Semantic Priming for Disambiguationn Novelty Detection for Prosodics

• Pronoun Resolutionn Heidegger’s Hammer

Discourse: Resolving PronounsDiscourse: Resolving Pronouns

• Try this one:

“The puppy pressed its nose against the window so hard it broke it.”

• Try this one:

“The puppy pressed its nose against the window so hard it broke it.”

Discourse: Resolving PronounsDiscourse: Resolving Pronouns

Discourse: Resolving PronounsDiscourse: Resolving Pronouns

“The puppy pressed its nose...”

Discourse: Resolving PronounsDiscourse: Resolving Pronouns

Whose nose is it, anyway?

Discourse: Resolving PronounsDiscourse: Resolving Pronouns

“... that it broke it.”

Discourse: Resolving PronounsDiscourse: Resolving Pronouns

“... that it broke it.”

Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept!Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept!

Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept! Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept!

• A Modest Proposal— maybe language means something!

• The One-Minute Epistemologist

Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept! Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept!

• Ontologies and IS-A Hierarchies

Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept! Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept!

• Intensional Knowledge

Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept! Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept!

• Extensional Knowledge — The Evil Twin

Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept! Knowledge: Reality ... What a Concept!

• Extensional Knowledge — Where It’s At!

Knowledge AuthoringKnowledge Authoring

Authoring: They told me I was gullible...Authoring: They told me I was gullible...

Authoring: ... and I believed them!Authoring: ... and I believed them!

Authoring: ... and I believed them!Authoring: ... and I believed them!

Language GenerationLanguage Generation

Speech ProcessingSpeech Processing

A Conversational Agent!A Conversational Agent!

MetaLangMetaLang

The End

Thank you!Thank you!

Bill DeSmedt

Chief Knowledge Engineer

Amber Productionslogrus@amberagents.com