MACHINE LEARNING
all some of the most notable NLP tasks that the system is currently capable of .
The applications are diverse and growing , ranging from automated report generation to sentiment analysis of customer feedback .
Despite these obvious utilities and indeed its current application , NLP faces significant hurdles in mission-critical enterprise applications .
NLP IN ACTION
JPMorgan Chase ’ s COIN ( Contract Intelligence ) program uses NLP to interpret commercial loan agreements , completing in seconds what previously took 360,000 hours of work annually .
The price of progress “ When NLP is the technology driving the entire user experience , failure is much more obvious and frustrating ,” Brad states .
This increased visibility of NLP in customer-facing applications raises the stakes for accuracy and reliability .
One of the primary challenges is the phenomenon known as “ hallucinations ” - where AI models generate plausible but factually incorrect information .
“ These models produce answers that are based on internal algorithms that sometimes do not reach the output we expect ,” explains Bern Elliot , Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner . “ This is called ‘ hallucinations ’ because the output is not based on clear evidence .”
For instance , a hallucinating system could give incorrect information , like when a certain system advised the prompter to put ‘ non-toxic ’ glue on a pizza to help the cheese stick .
But these hallucinations equally pose a problem when being felt in internal operations too .
Imagine , for instance , an NLP system summarising a financial document incorrectly , or misinterpreting crucial legal documents .
The potential for reputational damage and financial loss is considerable . Yet , NLP ’ s ability to present this information is where the danger really lies .
“ Since generated natural language sounds plausible and convincing even when wrong , there is overt danger in relying on it completely without verifying the output ,” explains Sebastian .
This can be damaging enough in isolated incidents , but imagine these systems being used at the enterprise level and at the beginning of a project . One hallucination can go on to act as the foundation for whole campaigns or strategy .
Equally , the world has changed beyond recognition since NLP ’ s initial creation , when the Western world made up almost all of the globe ’ s computer and internet users .
108 September 2024