What formal probabilistic structure notably dominated generative modeling for DST in the 2000s?

Answer

Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP).

The family of generative approaches that gained prominence during the 2000s formalized the process of conversation modeling using rigorous probabilistic frameworks. The most notable of these formalisms applied to Dialog State Tracking was the Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP). This approach uses probability theory, specifically Bayes' rule, to manage the belief state, which is a probability distribution over all possible states. This was favored for its mathematical elegance in explicitly modeling observation uncertainty, distinguishing it sharply from the preceding rule-based methods.

What formal probabilistic structure notably dominated generative modeling for DST in the 2000s?
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