Systems and methods provides for dialog management in real-time rather than turn taking. An example method included generating first candidate responses to triggering event. The triggering event may be receipt of a live stream chunk for the dialog or receipt of a backend response to a previous backend request for a dialog schema. The method also includes updating a list of candidate responses that are accepted or pending with at least on of the first candidate responses, and determining, for the triggering event, whether the list of candidate responses includes a candidate response that has a confidence score that meets a triggering threshold. The method also includes waiting for a next triggering event without providing a candidate response when the list does not include a candidate response that has a confidence score that meets the triggering threshold.