Lesson 16 min

What is NLP?

How machines process human language — understanding vs generation.

What you will learn

✓What NLP covers
✓NLU vs NLG
✓Common NLP tasks

Explanation

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the field of getting computers to work with human language — text and speech.

It splits into NLU (Natural Language Understanding): figuring out meaning, sentiment, and intent; and NLG (Natural Language Generation): producing fluent text.

Everyday NLP tasks include translation, sentiment analysis, summarisation, search, and chatbots. Modern LLMs do many of these at once.

Real-world use

When your email flags a message as 'important' or drafts a smart reply, that's NLP at work.

Common mistakes

• Assuming NLP only means chatbots — it also covers search, translation, and classification.

Practice

List three apps you use and label whether each leans on NLU, NLG, or both.

Knowledge check

0/1 answered

1. NLU and NLG refer to...

Answer all questions to check.