> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.logicdialog.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.logicdialog.ai/fundamentals/intents.md).

# Intents

Where as an [Utterance](/fundamentals/utterances.md) is what a user might say, an `Intent` is what they mean. 

In the context of a digital assistant we use Intents to help us reply to the users question. Behind the scenes the platform will take the utterance and pass it through some Artificial Intelligence that uses `Natural Language Processing` to recognise the `Intent` from the users `Utterance`. To do this it needs training. 

The training is a collection of utterances that provide a representative sample of ways a user might mean the same thing. The `NLP` uses this information, together with the understanding of the language to understand how words are used together. By doing this it can then establish how close similar words are. 

<figure><img src="https://292592888-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F8n7b8WayyGW9wX1onxly%2Fuploads%2FGxXTKyO0AgfMYpegPXXT%2FScreenshot%202023-02-16%20at%2010.04.56.png?alt=media&amp;token=7f20f7de-1a29-4154-a511-850c30cac76d" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

For example, let's consider the following utterances, which represent the `Bin Collection` intent.&#x20;

* When are my bins being collected?
* What day is my bin collection day?
* Is my green bin being collected today?
* Remind me what day my recycling is being collected please.&#x20;

Based on these examples, the `NLP` will be able to establish that `bin` or `bins` is frequently used when conveying the `Bin Collection` intent. Furthermore, because of the ways these words are used in the (English) language, it can also deduce that `rubbish` and `recycling` are equivalent words because they are often used in similar contexts, and in similar frequencies. With that in mind, this training means that if someone were to then type `I can't remember what day my rubbish is being collected`, because of the similarity of the words used, it'll still be identified as the `Bin Collection` intent.&#x20;

{% hint style="info" %}
We often refer to the process of identifying the users `Intent` as `Classification`. As part of the process the users utterance will be classified against all available intents and given a score between `0` and `1`. The intent that has the highest score ( also known as `Confidence` ) will be the Intent that this utterance will be classified as.&#x20;
{% endhint %}

Once a users `Intent` has been identified this can then be used to determine what response to provide to the user.&#x20;