Abstract: Apparatus includes subsystems for handling different communication acts and a programming interface for configuring the apparatus into a variety of conversational systems, allowing users to communicate interactively in natural language without restrictions whatsoever, either by speech or keyboard, while at the same time the apparatus is capable to interact with external applications.

Abstract: Apparatus with accompanying subsystems and methods for developing conversational computer applications. As a user interface, the apparatus allows for a user to initiate the conversation. The apparatus also answers simple and complex questions, understands complex requests, pursues the user for further information when the request is incomplete, and in general provides customer support with a human like conversation while, at the same time, it is capable to interact with a company's proprietary database. As a development tool, the apparatus allows a software developer to implement a conversational system much faster than takes, with current commercial systems to implement basic dialog flows. The apparatus contains three major subsystems: a state transition inference engine, a heuristic answer engine and a parser generator with semantic augmentations. A main process broker controls the flow and the interaction between the different subsystems.