A method and system for teaching an object of a deictic reference to a machine. A processor of the machine teaches the object of the deictic reference to the machine which results in the machine learning the object. The teaching includes: the processor finds an item in a region indicated by a physical pointing gesture, by the user, that points to the object; the processor shines a laser light on the item and in response, the processor receives a negative spoken indication from the user that the item shined on by the laser light is not the object; in response to the negative spoken indication from the user, the processor interacts with the user in an iterative procedure wherein the machine learns the object in a final iteration of the procedure. The processor stores the learned object in a storage repository.