Encyclopedia
Natural language processing (NLP)
What natural language processing is, the common tasks it covers, and how large language models changed the field.
Natural language processing (NLP) is the field of artificial intelligence concerned with getting computers to understand, interpret and produce human language.
Common NLP tasks
- Understanding intent: working out what a person is asking for.
- Extracting entities: pulling out names, dates, order numbers and the like.
- Sentiment analysis: judging whether a message is positive, negative or neutral.
- Translation and summarisation: converting or condensing text.
How large language models changed NLP
For years these tasks each needed their own narrow, separately trained model. Large language models fold many of them into one general model that handles intent, extraction, translation and generation from a single prompt. Most modern chatbots and AI agents are built on this newer, LLM-based form of NLP.
From reference to practice
Turn what you just read into a working AI agent on your own customer contact. Start free, no credit card needed.