What is natural language processing (NLP) concerned with?

Natural language processing (NLP) is fundamentally concerned with the interaction between computers and human languages. This field of study focuses on enabling computers to understand, interpret, and generate human language in a valuable way. In doing so, NLP integrates linguistics, computer science, and artificial intelligence to process and analyze large amounts of natural language data.

NLP encompasses a wide range of tasks including text analysis, sentiment analysis, translation, and conversational agents (chatbots), allowing machines to handle language as humans do. This interaction can manifest in various applications, such as voice-activated assistants that understand spoken commands, or systems that can summarize written content.

While creating speech recognition software might be a part of NLP, it is just one of many applications and does not encapsulate the full scope of the field. Similarly, developing image processing systems and analyzing financial data are related to different branches of computer science and data analysis, not specifically tied to the understanding or generation of natural language. Thus, the primary focus of NLP is on how computers can effectively communicate with humans in their native language.