4 ms·

How about asking for context if it's not clear? Any reasonable human assistant would ask if the context is not clear (enough).

• mojuba 6y ago
  Obviously virtual assistants should ask for clarifications. Now imagine every time you ask for the time, weather or a flight to London and you always mean only London UK, imagine how annoying that can be. Makes me wonder if VA's are more productive in such cases compared to typing.
  • slowmovintarget 6y ago
    "The time in London, England, is 8:23pm." "No, I meant the time in London, Ontario" "Sure. The time in London, Ontario, is 3:23pm." You start by doing a best guess, and actually listening for a correction. For other kinds of requests, you reply with a best guess and ask for confirmation or for clarifying questions. Hard, yes. Not impossible.
    • nisse72 6y ago
      "The average time in London is 5.53 pm"
    • derefr 6y ago
      Right. A good test for a conversational AI is whether it could perform the Abbott & Costello “Who’s on First” sketch with you. It should make assumptions where the characters in the sketch make assumptions, and ask questions borne from confusion where the characters do.
    • schrodinger 6y ago
      I mentioned in another comment that with Siri, this exchange does work: “What time is it in London?” ... gives answer for London Ontario “No, London England” ... gives answer for England However there’s no memory to this; the same thing happens next time you ask.