Glossary
The AI capability of interpreting the meaning and intent behind a customer's free-text message.
Natural Language Understanding (NLU) is the branch of AI that lets software interpret human language — extracting the intent, entities, and meaning from a message rather than matching exact keywords. It is what allows a chatbot to understand "where's my package?" and "I haven't got my order yet" as the same request.
NLU powers intent detection, entity extraction (like dates, products, or order numbers), and sentiment analysis. With it, automated assistants can respond accurately to how customers actually write, including typos, slang, and varied phrasing.
For WhatsApp chatbots, strong NLU is the difference between a frustrating menu and a natural, helpful conversation.
NLU lets a bot understand how customers really write, so automation feels natural and resolves requests instead of dead-ending on rigid menus.
Defuser AI's Talksy uses NLU to read customer intent and respond naturally across your WhatsApp Business API conversations.
The AI capability of interpreting the meaning and intent behind a customer's free-text message.
NLU lets a bot understand how customers really write, so automation feels natural and resolves requests instead of dead-ending on rigid menus.
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