Glossary
What is natural language understanding (NLU)?
Natural language understanding (NLU) is the part of AI that works out what a person actually means from their words — extracting intent and key details from a sentence, even when it's phrased casually or incompletely.
Why NLU matters for phone AI
When a caller says "I need to come in next week to get my tooth looked at," NLU extracts the intent (book an appointment) and the details, so the assistant responds correctly instead of forcing the caller through a rigid menu.
Related terms
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