Meaning inference from speech audio

A method comprising:

• obtaining audio;
• inferring, without transcription, from the audio:
• (a) a domain probability;
• (b) a plurality of intent probabilities;
• and
• (c) a plurality of variable value probabilities;
• and
• in response to:
• (A) the domain probability exceeding a domain threshold;
• (B) an intent probability exceeding an intent threshold when the audio includes speech of words in one of a plurality of recognized natural languages;
• (C) a variable value probability exceeding a variable value threshold within a certain period of time of the intent probability exceeding the intent threshold;
• (D) an end of an utterance detection signal;
• and
• (E) a specific amount of time having elapsed,
• invoking a virtual assistant action comprising an argument indicating which variable value probability is the highest.

A device comprising:

• a microphone;
• a speaker;
• a computer processor;
• and
• a memory storing code that causes the computer processor to:
• obtain audio from the microphone;
• infer, without transcription, from the audio, a plurality of intent probabilities;
• infer, without transcription, from the audio, a plurality of entity value probabilities;
• in response to an intent probability exceeding an intent threshold, retrieve information, wherein retrieving the information is conditional based on which intent probability is the highest;
• wherein the retrieving information is conditional based on having at least one entity value probability exceeding an entity value threshold;
• wherein retrieving information is further conditional based on the entity value probability exceeding the entity value threshold within a specific time period of the intent probability exceeding the intent threshold;
• pass the entity value with the highest probability as an argument for the information retrieval;
• in response to retrieving the information, synthesize speech audio using text-to-speech;
• and
• output the synthesized speech audio to the speaker.