5. The system as recited in claim 1 , further comprising: requesting, through the expert agent, participant information from the first participant; and based upon an analysis of the participant information, determining a subsequent action for the expert agent.
1. A computer system, comprising: one or more processors; system memory; and one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to implement a method for a goal-driven computer-based assistant in a conversation, the method comprising: determining an identification indication associated with a first participant in a conversation; accessing, within a database, user information associated with the identification indication, wherein the user information comprises data relating to the first participant; receiving through a conversation bridge one or more words communicated from a user; mapping the one or more words to a repository of predefined conversation types, wherein each predefined conversation type is associated with a goal process that comprises a finite state network that moves through a plurality of states to reach a particular end state that is associated with the respective predefined conversation type; based upon the user information and the mapping of the one or more words to the predefined conversation types, calculating one or more probabilities that the conversation is associated with one or more predefined conversation types; causing a digital display screen to display a list of suggested conversation types, wherein the list is periodically reordered based upon updates regarding probabilities that the conversation is associated with the one or more predefined conversation types; receiving an indication that the conversation is a particular type of conversation, wherein the received indication comprises a selection of the particular type of conversation from the display list; based upon the selected particular conversation type, activating an expert agent in the conversation, wherein the expert agent comprises a virtual conversation participant that is associated with the goal process, wherein: each state within the plurality of states is associated with business rules; and executing actions that are associated with the goal process, wherein the actions comprise communicating to the first participant through the conversation bridge.