Robert Gordon University (RGU) researchers have secured £380,000 in funding for a new project which aims to develop techniques to improve the conversational limitations within artificial intelligence tools.

The team from the university’s School of Computing, Engineering, and Technology hope to enhance the existing capabilities and aid the rapid development of domain-specific conversational systems.

There remains considerable potential in current AI systems, with many of the conversations open and unstructured. The key aim of the project is to ensure the conversation keeps both the AI and user on topic through structured conversation.

“By investigating and implementing methods that allow application developers to easily provide structure to conversations, we can create more sophisticated and reliable conversational systems in a broad range of areas – health care, law, education, coaching and public engagement to name but a few,” said RGU’s Dr Mark Snaith.

“Within these areas, specific applications include training and professional development, support systems, and online client-facing tools. For example, a lawyer might use a structured conversation to help test their courtroom argument or examine evidence; or in coaching, structured conversations can enhance smart coaching systems to create a more personalised and effective coaching experience.

“Over the next five years the value of the conversational AI market is projected to grow to almost £40 billion compared to around £10 billion last year. This underlines the need to ensure that conversational AI can support more complex interactions.”

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The funding for the project comes from the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Dr Kedar Pandya, EPSRC executive director for strategy, said: “Artificial intelligence tools are rapidly transforming our world.

“This project will advance conversational AI to ensure its technology we can all trust and rely on. It demonstrates EPSRC’s commitment to supporting world-class research that will bring positive societal and economic benefits, and cement the UK as a leader in AI.”

The Dialogue-Based Structured Conversational Artificial Intelligence research project is expected to run for three years.