{
  "id": 8781660,
  "title": "Teaching our on-device assistant to say \"I don't know\"",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/20/teaching-our-on-device-assistant-to-say-i-dont-know",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-20T21:55:11.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/familia_sync/teaching-our-on-device-assistant-to-say-i-dont-know-66m"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "FamiliaSync is an offline-first family organizer that keeps all data encrypted on individual devices. The assistant runs every query on the phone, without relying on cloud calls. The developers revamped the assistant's intent system by incorporating an on-device classifier trained on a curated set of 105 intents and 2,400 example utterances.\n\nThe classifier is trained to handle both specific requests and \"no\" cases, which are documented intents that the assistant cannot fulfill. When the confidence threshold is not met, the classifier does not route the request, allowing the model to provide a plain-language answer instead. This approach proved crucial in preventing misrouting, as demonstrated by three errors within hours of the system's release.\n\nReal-world queries revealed that misrouted requests often stemmed from loose keywords or phrasing variations. To address this, the developers stripped away extraneous keywords and added more question-form examples to the training corpus. The assistant has also evolved to engage in conversation, asking clarifying questions before executing tasks and adapting to casual date formats and ambiguous pronouns. Overall, FamiliaSync's on-device AI and privacy-first architecture prioritize trustworthy interactions over constant guessing.",
  "summary": "We're building FamiliaSync , an offline-first family organizer where all data stays encrypted on your own devices. That constraint extends to the assistant: every query has to run on the phone, no cloud calls allowed. Here's what happened when we replaced our hand-written intent router with a small on-device classifier. A smarter first step Every request to the FamiliaSync assistant now starts…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}