Nuance Communications, Inc.
Question answering with entailment analysis

Abstract:

Techniques for question answering involve receiving, from a user, a text input expressing a question in natural language. In response to the question, a text output expressing an answer to the question may be generated. A plurality of documents comprising natural language text may be analyzed, involving mapping the question to one or more hypotheses, analyzing at least one passage of text in at least one of the documents to determine whether the passage entails at least one of the hypotheses, and in response to determining that the passage entails at least one of the hypotheses, identifying the passage as providing supporting evidence for the answer to the question. The answer and the at least one passage identified as providing supporting evidence for the answer may be presented to the user in response to the text input.