{"id":671,"date":"2021-05-12T20:58:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T20:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/haxtoolkit\/?post_type=pattern&#038;p=671"},"modified":"2023-10-25T07:36:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T14:36:56","slug":"g10-a-disambiguate-before-acting","status":"publish","type":"pattern","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/haxtoolkit\/pattern\/g10-a-disambiguate-before-acting\/","title":{"rendered":"Pattern 10A: Disambiguate before&nbsp;acting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"toolkit-heading-with-image-block\">\n\t\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pattern 10A: Disambiguate before acting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/haxtoolkit\/uploads\/prod\/2023\/05\/yellow-header-bar-1536x14-5-23.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"problem\">Problem<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The AI system is uncertain of user intent and what further actions to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"solution\">Solution<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Elicit clarification from the user before taking action to resolve the system\u2019s uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"use-when\">Use when<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The system is able to compute its own uncertainty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The system is able to generate a list of probable alternate interpretations but is uncertain about which one is correct.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how\">How<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Collaborate with an AI\/ML practitioner to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Identify multiple probable options to show the user.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Determine the uncertainty threshold that triggers asking the user. In instances when system confidence is sufficiently high, consider not interrupting the user to ask for clarification. In instances when system confidence is extremely low, consider suppressing the feature altogether.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>To elicit clarification, ask the user a&nbsp;<strong>clarifying question<\/strong>&nbsp;or prompt the user to&nbsp;<strong>select from one or more probable options<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Clarifying questions<\/strong>&nbsp;may take the form of \u201cDid you mean\u2026?\u201d \u201cDo you want\u2026?\u201d \u201cI didn\u2019t understand that\u2026\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Prompt the user to&nbsp;<strong>select from multiple probable options<\/strong>&nbsp;by using selection controls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If working with a fixed number of options, consider keeping them in a consistent order. If working with a large and open set of options, place the most probable option first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider enabling the user to request an updated set of probable options if the initial set is not useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"user-benefits\">User benefits<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Avoids system errors by explicitly communicating intent before the system takes action.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The user is still able to benefit from system capabilities even when the system has low confidence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"common-pitfalls\">Common pitfalls<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Disambiguation dialogues interrupt the user\u2019s flow. Use them cautiously.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If disambiguation fails, avoid endless loops of eliciting clarification. Consider using pattern&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/haxtoolkit\/pattern\/g10-b-avoid-cold-starts-by-eliciting-user-preferences\/\">G10-B:&nbsp;Avoid cold starts by eliciting user preferences<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The probable options shown to the user are irrelevant or not sufficiently diverse.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The ordering of probable options is confusing to the user.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is not clear to the user how to make a selection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is not clear to the user how to solicit additional probable options.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200breferences\"><em>\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/em>References<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jaime Teevan, Eytan Adar, Rosie Jones, and Michael A. S. Potts. 2007.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/publication\/information-re-retrieval-repeat-queries-yahoos-logs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Information re-retrieval: repeat queries in Yahoo&#8217;s logs<\/a>. In Proceedings of the 30th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval&nbsp;(SIGIR &#8217;07). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 151\u2013158. DOI:https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/1277741.1277770<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"menu_order":101,"template":"","meta":{"toolkit_pattern_number":"10A","ep_exclude_from_search":false},"application-type":[68,61,57,96,60,99,56,55,69,29,58,30,59],"goal":[126],"guideline-term":[12],"product-category":[71,70,23,64,62,26,66,28,65,31,32,63],"class_list":["post-671","pattern","type-pattern","status-publish","hentry","application-type-classification","application-type-facial-recognition","application-type-filtering-and-ranking","application-type-gen-ai","application-type-image-recognition","application-type-llm","application-type-natural-language-processing-text","application-type-natural-language-processing-voice","application-type-prediction","application-type-recommendation","application-type-route-planning","application-type-search","application-type-text-generation","goal-reliability","guideline-term-scope-services-when-in-doubt","product-category-advertising","product-category-chatbot","product-category-e-commerce","product-category-email","product-category-health-and-wellness","product-category-navigation","product-category-media-entertainment","product-category-productivity","product-category-search-engine","product-category-social-networks","product-category-voice-assistants","product-category-writing-and-editing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pattern 10A: Disambiguate before acting - Microsoft HAX Toolkit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/haxtoolkit\/pattern\/g10-a-disambiguate-before-acting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pattern 10A: Disambiguate before acting - Microsoft HAX Toolkit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Problem The AI system is uncertain of user intent and what further actions to take. 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