Skip to content

Inheritance Mechanism

The Inheritance Mechanism feature lets parent Intents use example sentences from their child Intents. This mechanism helps the AI Agent better understand user inputs and determine the intended action.

Key Benefits

  • Wider Scope for Parent Intents. Parent Intents get a better trained NLU model by including examples from child Intents.
  • Clear Hierarchy. You can see how Intents relate to each other and how they're scored.

Prerequisites

Before using the inheritance mechanism, make sure you have a multilevel Intent structure. For example, Level 1 parent Intents with Level 2 or Level 3 child Intents.

How to Use

To activate the inheritance mechanism, follow these steps:

  1. In the Flow editor, go to NLU > Intents and select the parent Intent you want to set up.
  2. Activate the Inherit Example Sentences from Child Intents setting.
  3. Save your changes and rebuild the model to apply them.

Intent Hierarchy Matching

The parent Intent includes examples from its child Intents in its training data. When a user sends an input, during Intent matching, both parent and child Intents can score highly.

The child Intent's details are saved in the input.intent Input object, while the parent Intent's details appear in input.nlu.intentMapperResults.scores. For a deeper understanding of the resolution process, you can trace the Intent path using input.intentLevel and input.nlu.intentMapperResults.intentPath.

Input Object 
{
  "input": {
    "intent": "Child Intent",  
    "nlu": {
      "intentMapperResults": {
        "scores": [
          {
            "intent": "Child Intent",
            "score": 0.6833273843878324
          },
          {
            "intent": "Parent Intent",
            "score": 0.5099832885597476
          }
        ],
        "intentPath": [
          "Parent Intent",
          "Child Intent"
        ]
      }
    },
    "intentLevel": {
      "level1": "Parent Intent",
      "level2": "Child Intent",
      "level3": null
    }
  }
}

Example

Consider the inheritance mechanism in a customer support AI Agent. The parent Intent (Support) inherits example sentences from its child Intents (Technical Support and Billing Support). This structure enables the AI Agent to handle general inquiries while accurately identifying specific Intents.

Intent Data
Level Name Intent Name Example Sentences Description
Level 1 Parent Support I need assistance
Can you help me?
I have an issue		 The high-level parent Intent recognizing broad customer queries.
Level 2 Child Technical Support My internet is down
I can't connect to the Wi-Fi
My computer is broken		 The child Intent under the Support parent for issues related to technology.
Level 2 Child Billing Support I need help with my invoice
I have a question about my bill
Can you explain this charge?		 The child Intent under the Support parent for issues related to billing.
Result
User Input Recognized Intent
I need assistance Support (Parent Intent)
My internet is down Technical Support (Child Intent)
I need help with my invoice Billing Support (Child Intent)

More Information