How uncertainty could help a machine hold a more eloquent conversation

An approach to artificial intelligence that embraces uncertainty and ambiguity could paradoxically help make future virtual assistants less confused. Gamalon, an AI startup based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, developed the new technique for teaching machines to handle language, and several businesses are now testing a chatbot platform that uses it. The approach lets a computer hold a more meaningful and coherent conversation by providing a way to deal with the multiple meanings that an utterance might convey. If a person says or types something ambiguous, the system makes a judgment about what was most likely meant. Today's virtual assistants and chatbots typically follow simple rules in order to respond to questions.