ServiceNow, Inc.
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR A VIRTUAL AGENT IN A CLOUD COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

Abstract:

Present embodiments are directed to a virtual agent with improved natural language understanding (NLU) capabilities. The disclosed virtual agent enables topic selection and topic changes during natural language exchanges with a user. The virtual agent is designed to select suitable topic flows to execute based on intents identified in received user utterances, including selection of an initial topic flow in response to a topic identified in a first user utterance, as well as switching between topic flows mid-conversation based on identified topic changes. The virtual agent is also capable of considering all intents and entities conveyed during the conversation, which enables the virtual agent to avoid prompting the user to provide redundant information. Furthermore, the virtual agent is capable of executing topic flows as part of a global topic flow, which enables the virtual agent to perform a number of predefined activities as part of each interaction with the user.