Amazon Alexa can now predict customers’ latent goals

New Delhi, Nov 12 : Amazon has launched a new Alexa skill that will help predict customers latent goals — goals that are implicit in customer requests but not directly expressed — when they talk to Alexa about tasks.
For instance, if a customer asks, “How long does it take to steep tea?”, the latent goal could be setting a timer for steeping a cup of tea.
With the new capability, Alexa might answer that question, “Five minutes is a good place to start”, then follow up by asking, “Would you like me to set a timer for five minutes?” “We’re taking another step toward natural interaction with a capability that lets Alexa infer customers’ latent goals,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
The first step for Alexa is to decide whether to anticipate a latent goal at all.
To determine whether to suggest a latent goal, “we use a deep-learning-based trigger model that factors in several aspects of the dialogue context, such as the text of the customer’s current session with Alexa and whether the customer has engaged with Alexa’s multi-skill suggestions in the past”.