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Re: [ontolog-forum] Improved Elizae being used in Call Centers

To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: John F Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:34:58 -0500
Message-id: <512F6B12.1070807@xxxxxxxxxxx>
On 2/27/2013 5:37 PM, Obrst, Leo J. wrote:
> Anyone who uses Eliza-based NLP templates, I say: pity the fools.    (01)

An "Eliza-based template" is a regular expression.  Such expressions
have been widely used for searching and information extraction for
decades.    (02)

But Eliza had more than just a set of templates.  Each template
was used as a pattern that would be matched to the current input
stream and would trigger some rule.  In effect, Eliza implemented
production rules with just one-step forward chaining.    (03)

Later Eliza-like systems used production rules that allowed
multiple-step forward chaining *and* the option of a "context"
switch.  Each context had its own set of patterns and rules.
The set of contexts and the rules that made transitions from one
context to another could be represented by a finite-state machine.    (04)

The above two paragraphs are the basis for many, if not most
of the annoying phone answering systems you get when you call
an airline, a bank, or any company from which you would like
some useful service.    (05)

I agree that they are annoying, and they're not state of the
art in NLP.  But at least they're a step up from the useless
help facilities based on keywords.    (06)

John    (07)

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