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necessarily relevant for the system to interrupt the user. However, the question
can arise differently when it is not trying to create an oral utterance but start a
multimedia information presentation. Indeed, a purely visual action from the
system's part can be considered even when the user is talking, especially if
this visual action can provide quick information which would be efficient for
the interaction's progression. Beyond the aspects linked to multimodal
message generation, which we will explore in Chapter 9, these are indeed
aspects linked to dialogue management, which are at stake here.
8.2.4. Can a dialogue system lie?
One last aspect on which we have not insisted enough is the importance of
the task in dialogue management. The introduction example will allow us to
illustrate several system behaviors depending on its own priorities, and
especially the ability to lie, a fascinating behavior for an MMD system.
Let us return to the dialogue management at the moment of the U2
reception, “how long with this itinerary which seems shorter?”. In section
8.2.2, we suggested that the journey length was 20 minutes, which the system
assesses as short, and we supposed that the comment was true, that is the
designated itinerary was the shortest among the identified solutions. Let us
now suppose, as in section 8.1.1, that the journey length is 2 hours, which the
system can assess to be a long time, which might not be satisfactory given
the matching distance. Let us add to the system's priorities that of selling
a train ticket, a priority that can be materialized in various ways: have the
dialogue end on a sale and not simply a timetable information request, suggest
promotions, prioritize certain ticket sales over others depending on constraints
such as the very close travel date, the length of ticket validity. In the end,
the system can be made to generate the utterance “two hours” with no more
precision for one of the following reasons:
- The system knows that it is an unsatisfactory length of time, but it is the
shortest journey - which means the user's comment is true - and it does seem
to be the best solution. The system does not consider that it is necessary to
confirm the comment, for reasons mentioned in section 8.2.2. It may also not
have dared to tell the user to take a taxi, maybe because it falls outside of its
field of expertise.
- The system sees that it is not the shortest journey, but the other possible
itinerary lasts ten minutes less and involves an additional change. Overall, the
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