Encyclopedia
Intent recognition
What intent recognition is, why it matters for routing and answers, and how AI models changed it.
Intent recognition is the task of working out what a person actually wants from what they wrote or said, such as tracking an order, cancelling a subscription or asking about opening hours.
Why it matters
Understanding the intent is the first step in handling a request. It decides where a conversation should go, which answer applies and whether an action is needed. Get the intent wrong and everything after it, the routing and the reply, is wrong too.
How AI changed it
Older systems matched keywords or offered menus, so an unusual phrasing fell through. A language model reads the meaning rather than the exact words, so it recognises the same intent across many phrasings, including messages that mix several requests together, and can then answer or act on each one.
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