Technique for Conversations

Robert ZubekNorthwestern University

What’s the focus?

Eliza

Stronglanguage

understanding

My focus onstereotyped

conversations

“The Breakup Conversation”

Tech stress-test– Set up: the computer is on the receiving end

of a breakup conversation– Situation deliberately delicate and context-

sensitive– Interaction takes place entirely over natural

language

Alice: Bob? Bob: hi honey! Bob: i should get back to work Alice: we need to talk. Bob: hm? Bob: ok Alice: I've met someone else. Bob: what do you mean? Bob: oh no Alice: I mean I've met. Yes. Bob: i can't believe this Bob: i'm not sure what i

should be saying Bob: where did this come

from Alice: Bob, I think we have

different needs. Bob: this doesn't tell me

anything Bob: this is because i still live

with parents Bob: you don't like that i'm

staying at home Bob: isn't that true Bob: so...

Alice: No Bob, well, that's part of it. Bob: i thought this was something

real Bob: was i just a fool for caring

about you Alice: No. I do care about you. Bob: that's cold Bob: you're being so mean Bob: is your mind made up? Alice: Bob, I just don't think you're

ready for a Bob: so that's how it is Bob: i can really change Alice: relationship. Bob: listen why won't you just talk

to me about what happened Bob: this is because i stay at home Bob: you hate that i'm lazy Bob: don't you Bob: so Alice: You're not lazy, Bob. Bob: it seemed to me this was

something real Bob: was i wrong to care about you Alice: Bob, you're repeating yourself.

Alice: I never would have thought I was going out with a Alice: republican. Bob: hm Alice: Bob, I can't go out with a republican. Bob: :P Alice: Don't just say "hmm...." Alice: Just just make emoticons at me! Alice: You fucking asshole, say something! Bob: what a cruel thing to say to me Bob: what did you say? Alice: I said say something to me! Bob: so Alice: So????? Bob: :P Alice: You fuckhead. You're nothing but a stupid neo-con Bob: you're being cruel again Alice: looser.

Failure modes are always interesting…

Under the hood

Task knowledge compensates for weak NLP– Much interaction can be seen as stereotyped

protocols, e.g. introductions, requests, topic shifts, evaluations, arguments, etc.

– Decompose interaction into such protocols– Model protocols as state spaces (not FSMs)

Under the hood: finite state models

Player and computer both drive the conversation, therefore:– We can’t be sure what is the current state of each

space– Need to estimate our position based on what’s been

said so far– Specify what actions to perform based on this estimate

Markov Decision Process: probabilistic state estimation + action policy

Under the hood: more info

Overall system: hierarchy of Markov decision processes, running at the same time, all the time

Technical details available online or via email– System architecture and space estimation

described in the paper– Communicative act estimation, action production,

etc. to be described in the dissertation

Want to play?

Test version available in a few weeks – visit web site to get a copy:– TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/52wyo – Full URL: http://www.cs.northwestern.edu

/ ~rob/software/breakup/

Or just email me– rob@cs.northwestern.edu

The End

Thanks to Robin!