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Defining IT & technology terms

Natural language understanding

Natural language understanding helps Artificial Intelligence (AI) software understand human language. The technology is commonly used to comprehend text-based communications between humans and chatbots. Chatbots and other AI-enabled software can be trained to hold meaningful and productive conversations leveraging natural language understanding — however, complete language understanding remains out of reach.

Natural language understanding avoids scripted conversations in favor of conversations that follow how users communicate in everyday words and sentences. Chatbot designers work with stakeholders to map common conversations with the expected audience. They use technology, like Microsoft Cognitive Services and the Language Understanding Intelligence Service (LUIS), to build a natural language understanding chatbot.

Natural language understanding plays an important role in AI technology to support better user experiences — similar to how popular virtual assistants, such as Alexa, Cortana or Siri, are used.

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Related terms

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Chatbot
  • Machine learning
  • Responsible AI

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