A Pragmatic Competence in AI: The Study of Context-Awareness in Virtual Assistants
Abstract
Contextual understanding is an ability which is quintessential for any form of effective human-computer interaction. Unfortunately, most virtual assistants lack the pragmatic competence necessary to understand the context of any conversation. The current study will, therefore, examine how integrating pragmatic principles into AI systems enhances their contextual understanding and communicative competencies. The linguistic theories of pragmatics to be applied in this analysis include speech acts, implicature, and deixis, this research identifies key elements in context-aware interaction. A novel framework for pragmatic modeling in AI is proposed. It particularly points to the integration of real-world contextual cues and user intent recognition. The implementation of this framework is tested on the prototypes of virtual assistants, testing their performance in dynamic, real-time scenarios. Results show significant improvements in user satisfaction with the experience and the effectiveness of handling ambiguous or nuanced communication by the AI better. This work That can highlight the potentiality of AI design, driven by pragmatics for human-like, intuitive advancement, drawing closer to human norms of communication.
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