Natural Language Understanding (NLU) is the part of AI Cloud that interprets what a user says and determines the most appropriate response. Rather than treating this as a single fixed engine, CAIC uses a Hybrid NLU approach: multiple recognition engines run in sequence, each getting a chance to resolve the interaction before the next one is tried.
Hybrid NLU lets you configure which engines participate and in what order. Changes require publication to take effect.
Pipeline Structure
The NLU pipeline always runs in the following structure:
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Exceptions (Escalations) — runs first, always. Handles hard-coded escalation rules before any recognition attempt.
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1. Standard Recognition — AI Cloud's built-in recognition engine, consisting of:
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1.1 Intent Recognition
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1.2 Rule-based Recognition
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2. HALO — agentic AI processing via the linked HALO profile. Can be enabled or disabled (see below). Draggable relative to Standard Recognition.
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Fallbacks (Escalations) — runs last, always. Handles interactions that no recognition block resolved.
The order of the draggable blocks (Standard Recognition and HALO) determines which engine gets the first attempt at resolving a user message. If an earlier engine matches, later engines are skipped.
Enable HALO Toggle
The HALO block includes an Enable HALO toggle. When disabled, HALO is skipped entirely from the NLU pipeline and AI Cloud processes interactions using only its Standard Recognition engines.
When to disable HALO:
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Performance — removing the agentic layer reduces response latency. Useful for high-volume, simple-intent bots where generative AI adds overhead without benefit.
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Compliance — some organisations are prohibited from using generative or agentic AI (regulated industries, public sector). Disabling HALO makes AI Cloud a pure rules- and intent-based NLU engine while preserving the full CMS content layer.
When re-enabled, HALO resumes its position in the pipeline. Publication is required to apply any change to the toggle state.
Access
Hybrid NLU is available in Configuration → Hybrid NLU. HALO must be active on the project for the HALO block to appear. The Enable HALO toggle does not remove the HALO integration — it only controls whether HALO participates in NLU processing.