Template-based intent classification for chatbots

The present disclosure relates to chatbot systems and, more particularly, to techniques for determining that an input utterance is representative of a task that a particular chatbot can perform, based on matching the input utterance to a template. Techniques are also described for generating templates based on example utterances that have been provided for a chatbot. In certain embodiments, an initial set of templates is generated based on example utterances. This initial set of templates is then refined using template generalization techniques, which can be performed at the word or sentence level to generate a final set of templates for use at runtime, when the templates are matched against user utterances. The final set of templates may include one or more generalized templates that were derived from the initial set of templates and may also include the initial set of templates.