How Artificial Intelligence is Ever More Advanced in Understanding Text and Words

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Written by

valo

Scientist and artist exploring the beauty and magic of nature

1 year ago

In community: Just Write(e5e5)

Topics: Technology, Knowledge, Artificial Intelligence, AI, Language

It is mind-blowing

Written expression is part of human nature, and it is understandable that we expect our tools to grasp it, too. (Photo: Pexels)

Artificial intelligence has been around for quite some time, but it is only recently that we have begun to employ its potential in the world of text and words. With AI, we can now analyse texts and words in ways that were once impossible. This has allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of language and communication than ever before.

What is artificial intelligence?

There is no single, precise definition of artificial intelligence (AI), but generally, it refers to a field of computer science focused on the creation of intelligent systems that can act autonomously. They differ from traditional robots by being able to perform tasks that were not part of the programmed code they are running. Some of the predictions of AI applications can be deployed in a wide range of domains, including healthcare, finance, manufacturing, logistics, retailing, and more. Researchers design algorithms that make it possible for AI to make human-like decisions based on patterns and associations extracted from large amounts of data.

Artificial intelligence is a decade-old concept that boomed as computational power increased in the past decade. (Picture: Canva)

How do computers understand text and words?

One of the modern ways for computers to understand words is by using a process called natural language processing (NLP). This technology allows computers to read, understand, and respond to human language. NLP lies on the border of computer science and linguistics in that an algorithm is taught how humans use syntax, semantics and grammar when forming sentences. NLP is used in many different applications such as search engines, chatbots, voice recognition software, and machine translation. For example, language processing can be applied when online shops suggest items you might be interested in. It can also be used to classify emails by priority or category and also to do even more advanced duties like Siri on Apple devices.

Language is the key to communication, and teaching computers to understand is a big step forward. (Picture: Canva)

How does natural language processing work?

In natural language processing, a computer system attempts to automatically understand the text in human languages. This is done by using algorithms that analyse the structure of sentences and paragraphs, as well as their meaning. The first step is tokenisation. Tokenisation splits a sentence into individual words. The next step is to identify what part of speech the tokens are and then analyse their role in the sentence. Intent classification can tell whether the text is, for example, an inquiry, feedback, or a complaint. A self-explanatory feature is topic classification. AI can also perform sentiment analysis to tell whether the text sounds optimistic, negative, confident and more. These analyses are done by identifying combinations of words throughout the text.

A quick note on search engines

Nowadays, search engines are searching for the context and sentiment that accompany the search term. Essentially, they brainstorm to guess what you might have been after. This directly affects SEO since cramming the same keyword over and over again is a recipe for disaster.