How to make a natural language interface to query databases accessible to everyone: An example

Natural Language Interfaces to Query Databases (NLIDBs) have been an active research field since the 1960s. However, they have not been widely adopted. This article explores some of the biggest challenges and approaches for building NLIDBs and proposes techniques to reduce implementation and adoption costs. The article describes {AskMe*}, a new system that leverages some of these approaches and adds an innovative feature: query-authoring services, which lower the entry barrier for end users. Advantages of these approaches are proven with experimentation. Results confirm that, even when {AskMe*} is automatically reconfigurable against multiple domains, its accuracy is comparable to domain-specific NLIDBs.

► We analyze the biggest challenges for NLIDBs and propose ways to reduce their costs. ► We describe {AskMe*}, a new NLIDB system developed by the authors of this article. ► {AskMe*} is fully reconfigurable and can be targeted to multiple domains. ► {AskMe*} adds an innovative feature to NLIDBs: query-authoring services. ► The reduction of costs in {AskMe*} is proven by means of a set of experiments.