Interactive character AI (character-as-a-service, pre-grant).
In various embodiments, a character engine models a character that interacts with users The modeling techniques include evaluating user input data that is associated with a user device to identify a user intent and an assessment domain, selecting a first set of inference algorithms from a plurality of inference algorithms based, at least in part, on the user intent and the assessment domain, and applying the user intent and the assessment domain to the first set of inference algorithms to generate a plurality of inferences. The modeling techniques further include consolidating the plurality of inferences into a consolidated inference, applying a second set of inference algorithms from the plurality of inference algorithms to the consolidated inference to generate a context-specific inference, computing the character response to the user input data based on the user input data, the context-specific inference, and data representing knowledge associated with a character, and causing the user device to output the character response to the user.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to computer processing and, more specifically, to modeling characters that interact with users as part of a character-as-a-service implementation. Description of the Related Art
Interacting with large numbers of users (e.g., customers, guests, clients, etc.) is an essential part of many services. For instance, an entertainment service provider oftentimes interacts with thousands or millions of individual users via help call lines, sales call lines, and/or entertainment characters. Some service providers employ human operators to interact with the users. However, as the number of user interactions increases, the costs associated with employing human operators to interact with the users becomes prohibitively expensive. For this reason, many service providers leverage touch-tone menus or simple menu voice recognition systems to automate interactions between remote users and various mass-market services, such as technical support, reservations, billing, and the like. Similarly, some entertainment service providers generate predetermined recordings to automate interactions between children and animation characters.
However, while interacting with these types of automated systems, users are typically aware that they are interacting with an automated system. For example, when the responses of an animated character are predetermined, many children quickly asce
1. A computer-implemented method for generating a character response during an interaction with a user, the method comprising: evaluating user input data that is associated with a user device to identify a user intent and an assessment domain; selecting a first set of inference algorithms from a plurality of inference algorithms based, at least in part, on the user intent and the assessment domain, wherein the first set of inference algorithms include at least two of the plurality of inference algorithms; applying the user intent and the assessment domain to the first set of inference algorithms to generate a plurality of inferences; consolidating the plurality of inferences into a consolidated inference; applying a second set of inference algorithms from the plurality of inference algorithms to the consolidated inference to generate a context-specific inference, wherein the first set of inference algorithms and the second set of inference algorithms are mutually exclusive; computing the character response to the user input data based on the user input data, the context-specific inference, and data representing knowledge associated with a character; and causing the user device to output the character response to the user. ||
12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to generate a character response during an interaction with a user by performing the steps of: evaluating user input data that is associated with a user device to identify a user intent and an assessment domain; selecting a first set of inference algorithms from a plurality of inference algorithms based, at least in part, on the user intent and the assessment domain, wherein the first set of inference algorithms include at least two of the plurality of inference algorithms; applying the user intent and the assessment domain to the first set of inference algorithms to generate a plurality of inferences; consolidating the plurality of inferences into a consolidated inference; applying a second set of inference algorithms from the plurality of inference algorithms to the consolidated inference to generate a context-specific inference, wherein the first set of inference algorithms and the second set of inference algorithms are mutually exclusive; computing the character response to the user input data based on the user input data, the context-specific inference, and data representing knowledge associated with a character; and causing the user device to output the character response to the user. ||
20. A computer-implemented method for generating a character response during an interaction with a user, the method comprising: evaluating user input data that is associated with a user device to identify a user intent and an assessment domain; selecting at least two of a plurality of inference algorithms based, at least in part, on the user intent and the assessment domain; applying the user intent and the assessment domain to the plurality of inference algorithms to generate a plurality of inferences; consolidating the plurality of inferences into a consolidated inference; applying at least one of the plurality of inference algorithms to the consolidated inference to generate a context-specific inference; computing the character response to the user input data based on the user input data, the context-specific inference, and data representing knowledge associated with a character; and causing the user device to output the character response to the user.