FAQs

A: SILVIA is a complete platform for conversational agent development. SILVIA conversational agents dynamically interpret speech, text or other input, then responds to users, interacts with applications and manipulates data on the users’ behalf.

A SILVIA-enabled application talks with users and does things for them based on those interactions. SILVIA is an acronym that stands for “Symbolically Isolated, Linguistically Variable, Intelligence Algorithm.”

“Symbolically isolated” means that SILVIA processes language input (humans talking) by first transforming human language(s) into a special unified mathematical language. As speech or text enters SILVIA, the runtime system isolates human words and concepts into symbols and statistical relationships.

“Linguistically Variable” means that SILVIA isn’t limited to any one human language or dialect. Because the SILVIA Core inference engine operates on mathematical units, SILVIA is a polyglot who can easily switch from one language to another without requiring special programming.

The “Intelligence Algorithm” part of SILVIA’s name refers to the statistical runtime of the internal inference engine. An inference engine looks at incoming data (in this case, human input) and, based on other data and context, decides what to do in response.

SILVIA’s inference engine doesn’t rely on simplistic string matching, so SILVIA is able to connect concepts and ideas mathematically in order to more intelligently intepret user input and respond.

A: SILVIA comes with five (5) main components, not including sample applications and other additional elements.

SILVIA Core – A high-performance natural languange and runtime inference engine, configurable for client, server, or mobile / embedded applications.

SILVIA Server – A configurable and scalable system for automated management of multiplen users on one or more networked servers or the cloud.

SILVIA Voice – A modular add-on component for integration of voice input and rendering voice output within a client application, a web page, or as part of SILVIA Server for optimized streaming media. Also supports automated lip-sync, emotion and other actions for graphical characters.

SILVIA API – Exposes the SILVIA Core and allows programmers to create new applications and plug-ins with SILVIA functionality.

SILVIA Studio – A graphical content creation and management system that gives developers and content managers the power to create and deploy SILVIA data for their applications.

A: The SILVIA Core is extremely efficient, so in most any application, interactions with the SILVIA Core take up only a tiny percentage of CPU computing resources.

SILVIA is so efficient that it is able to run as a background component of your application with no special hardware or GPU processing required.

This leaves almost all your CPU and all of your dedicated graphics hardware free for your application’s best performance. The SILVIA Core and application data is also very compact, taking as little as 1MB or less of RAM in some applications.

A: Yes. The SILVIA Studio tools have been localized to support 35 languages world-wide, and the SILVIA Core runtime is language independent. You can freely develop your applications in any number of languages.

A: The SILVIA runtime is fully cross-platform, and can be embedded in applications for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, X-Box and more. SILVIA also supports any Unity build target, incuding game consoless and AR/VR targets. SILVIA Studio content tools require a Windows PC.

A: Yes, SILVIA is designed to integrate with third-party speech recognition solutions. The SILVIA Core library includes an easy-to-use framework, with example code, to take input from and intelligently interpret speech from most any source and language. SILVIA has been proven to work with a variety of speech input solutions and we can provide resources and recommendations for your particular SILVIA-enabled applications.

A: SILVIA is a unique natural language solution that integrates a natural language interpreter, a high-performance inference engine, a action execution engine with APIs, and a natural language rendering and output layer. For more details, here are some links to SILVIA white papers that discuss our NLP approach in more detail.

A: SILVIA was designed from the ground up to be compact, portable, easy to develop for, and language independent. This means that SILVIA can run natively on devices with no connection required, as part of a client’s desktop application, running on a mobile device, on a game console, as part of our scaleable SILVIA Server, or running in the cloud.

SILVIA also uses memory and context to build relationships with individual users and to help them easily complete tasks with multiple steps or complex branching designs. Our proactive technology can even provide guided training solutions that allow for flexibility in educational exploration while still insuring core curricula completion and automated perfomance analysis.

A: SILVIA is a conversational intelligence solution that offers human-like interactions that can comprehend queries without relying on scripted and structured language dialog.

SILVIA includes embedded technology security features that can encrypt and lock private data running natively on everything from mobile devices, IoT, games, training applications, or secure on-site infrastructure.

SILVIA is an intelligent conversational solution that understands text or spoken language in context and acts on input based on the user’s intent, will remember it, and will reference it for future interactions.

The SILVIA Core is language independent, so developers are free to create interactions and content in the language(s) of their choice.

SILVIA is the most flexible, lightweight platform for the development of practical, portable natural language applications.

A: SILVIA is a flexible platform, and can be configured and integrated within almost any application where you need conversational, natural language interactions.

SILVIA has been used in training and simulation, games and entertainment, online social applications, data visualization, online ordering systems, IoT, AR/VR, automotive, defense applications and more.