Natural Language Processing - What is it, and How is it Used?

What is Natural Language Processing? You may have seen references to it as NLP, but what does it actually do?

It’s the part of AI that helps machines understand and respond to human language. Whether we’re typing, talking, mumbling, using slang, or being sarcastic… NLP is what helps computers make sense of it.

Basically, it’s the bridge between how we talk and how machines process information. Because while we speak in a messy, emotional, often chaotic way—computers? They deal in structure, logic, and rules.

NLP learns from huge amounts of text -books, websites, conversations - picking up on grammar, vocabulary, and common patterns. It doesn’t memorise rules like a textbook. It learns by example. That’s how it can predict what word should come next or figure out what you’re trying to say - even if it’s not perfectly phrased.

How NLP Powers Everyday Tools

You interact with NLP every single day: Autocorrect and predictive text? That’s NLP guessing what you meant, even when you type like your thumbs are on fire. Google? It doesn’t just search what you typed, it tries to figure out what you meant. Alexa or Siri? They turn your speech into text, figure out your request, and give you a response (sometimes even a useful one).

And tools like ChatGPT? They’re basically NLP on steroids, able to understand complex prompts and respond in full paragraphs that sound convincingly human.