Topic NLU Intent tab

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of NLU Intent tab

    The NLU Intent tab in the Assistant Designer Asset library allows ServiceNow customers to edit and refine Natural Language Understanding (NLU) models tied to conversation topics. It provides tools to review and modify utterances and their associated entities when a topic is linked to an NLU model and intent. This functionality is essential for optimizing topic discovery accuracy and improving Virtual Agent interactions.

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    Note that the interface differs depending on whether ServiceNow Otto in Virtual Agent is installed, affecting the visibility of the updated Asset library UI or legacy topics page. The NLU Intent tab appears if your topic uses NLU discovery, enabling testing of prediction results and confidence scores to guide refinements.

    Utterances tab

    This tab enables practical management of utterances for intents, including:

    • Adding utterances: Enter unique utterances under 200 characters to represent user expressions for an intent.
    • Editing and duplicating utterances: Modify or copy existing utterances to refine training data.
    • Moving utterances: Transfer utterances between intents to correct or improve intent grouping.
    • Deleting utterances: Remove irrelevant or incorrect utterances to maintain model quality.
    • Defining new entities: Select words within utterances to create new entities, choosing from simple or system-derived entity types. These entities then appear in the Associated Entities tab.

    Associated Entities tab

    This section displays all entities linked to the selected intent. Customers can click on entity names to see which utterances reference them. It also supports associating system entities such as date and time, enhancing the model’s ability to recognize structured data within conversations.

    Conflicts tab

    The Conflicts tab helps identify overlapping utterances used by multiple intents, which can cause ambiguity in intent recognition. By highlighting these conflicts, customers can resolve them to improve the precision and effectiveness of NLU topic discovery, ensuring Virtual Agent responds accurately to user input.

    You can edit and refine ServiceNow NLU models from within Assistant Designer Asset library. When a conversation topic is bound to an associated NLU model and intent, use the NLU Intent tab to review and edit utterances and associated entities.

    Note:
    An updated Assistant Designer Asset library user interface is available when you install ServiceNow Otto in Virtual Agent. This content assumes that you can see the list view. If ServiceNow Otto in Virtual Agent is not installed, you see the legacy UI and topics page. For more information, see Virtual Agent Designer legacy topics page.

    If your topic uses NLU discovery, the topic NLU Intent tab appears on the Assistant Designer Asset library interface. Test your topic to see the prediction results for topic discovery and the corresponding confidence scores for the results. Depending on the results, you can modify the associated utterances and entities in the NLU model for your topic intent.

    Utterances tab

    Use the Utterances tab to perform the following tasks.

    Table 1. Using the Utterances tab
    I want to... Do this
    Add an utterance Use the Add field to enter an utterance for an intent. Each utterance must be unique and contain fewer than 200 characters.
    Edit an utterance Select the Edit icon next to the utterance.
    Duplicate an utterance Select the Copy icon next to the utterance.
    Move an utterance to another intent Select the Menu icon , and then select Move this utterance to another intent.
    Delete an utterance Select the Menu icon , and then select Delete this utterance.
    Define a new entity
    1. Select a word in an utterance to use as an entity.
    2. In the Create New Entity picker, select the type of entity to be created, such as a simple or system-derived entity.

      For information about the types of entities that you can define, see NLU entities. For information about system entities, see NLU system entities. When you add an entity, it is also displayed in the Associated Entities tab.
    Figure 1. Example utterances on the NLU Intent tab
    The Check IT Ticket Status topic displays 24 utterances. There are two associated entities. You can add more utterances, or train and test your model.
    Figure 2. Adding entities on the Utterances tab
    Select a word or phrase in an utterance, then use the Create New Entity picker to add an entity related to it.

    Associated Entities tab

    Use the Associated Entities tab to view the entities defined for the intent. Select the name to view the utterances that the entity is associated with.

    Figure 3. Entities defined for an intent named UpdatePhoneNumber
    The Associated Entities sub-tab lists the entities associated with the intent.

    You can also associate system entities, such as date and time, with an intent. For more information about supported system entities, see NLU system entities.

    Conflicts tab

    Use the Conflicts tab to view conflicts among your intents. For example, if two different intents use the same utterance, this will appear as a conflict in both Assistant Designer Asset library and NLU Workbench. Identifying and resolving conflicts improves the effectiveness of NLU topic discovery.

    Figure 4. Utterance conflict between two intents
    The Conflicts tab shows problems that may interfere with topic discovery. In this example, two separate intents contain the same utterance.