Natural Language Generation: what it is, what it’s for, and how you can learn to take advantage of it

Texts that are made on their own: thanks to the Natural Language Generation you can.

The Natural Language Generation (NLG) is a technology that generates a language like spoken language. The field is very wide, and certainly particularly interesting with regard to digital marketing and its applications. It is one of the applications of artificial intelligence, which is increasingly the protagonist in companies. Suffice it to say that, in Italy alone, more than half of large companies have already started automation processes through artificial intelligence.

This number is lower than the European average, but it is sure to grow in the coming years.

But let’s look more specifically at what the Natural Language Generation is and how you can use it for your business.

Natural Language Generation: what it is

When we talk about Natural Language Generation we refer to a technology that is a synthesis between computer science, artificial intelligence and linguistics. It is in fact a software that collects a large amount of data, processes it and, finally, manages to reproduce human language. This technology does not return predetermined answers, but is able to adapt to the moment and language interactions. To actually understand the text in all its semantic and meaning implications. The language is processed in depth, to the point that artificial intelligence understands it so well that it can produce texts independently. The Natural Language Generation, in fact, as its own name says, generates language.

The process

Let’s see how the Natural Language Generation process happens.

First the language is broken down into tokens, i.e. spaces, words, punctuation, sentences. Then we move on to morphological and lexical analysis: the analysis of the form and meaning of each word in the sentence. At a third point we move on to syntactic analysis: if the system fails to associate the right meaning with words, their disposition could help to understand it. At this point, reconnaissance takes over: words belonging to the same categories are identified. Artificial intelligence must then perform sematic analysis to understand the meaning of the sentence. Finally, the analysis of the speech identifies which parts of the sentence refer to the categories.

The different uses of the NLG

The uses for the Natural Language Generation are different. In particular, this technology allows you to recreate the process of the human mind when, starting from certain inputs, it formulates thoughts that summarize them, explain, summarize and then express them in words. Therefore, the uses of Natural Language Processing can be very useful in different fields: analysis, copywriting, customer care. In particular, Natural Language Processing can be used in repetitive tasks that would take away an employee’s time. For example, in the early stages of the relationship with the customer in customer care, or in the extrapolation of a report when you have a very complex study. Or to manage survey results or monitor social media. But it can also be exploited when a lot of similar content needs to be produced: where a copywriter would have to deal with repetitive and demotivating work, artificial intelligence would do the job for him. The advantage, then, is definitely a considerable saving of time. A time that the employee would spend on more satisfying tasks, thus benefiting the company.

How to use it

Large companies have already started to focus on the Natural Language Generation: they have done it precisely to speed up customer service and to automate the processing of complex data. Basically, artificial intelligence manages a first relationship with the customer through chatbots and virtual assistant, then it will be the staff who will come into direct contact with the customer.

Another way to take advantage of the Natural Language Generation, as we have already anticipated, is in the field of copywriting. Think of a site that has to produce a multiplicity of similar content: a copy would find the task unsatisfactory and boring, but a software would not. Or an e-commerce full of similar products, therefore with almost the same product cards: here too, artificial intelligence makes it available to the company. What’s more: there is also the possibility that the software will dialogue with the copy itself, providing it with all the indications to make its content more effective.

For the content marketing of a company, a real decisive support. Another service that the Natural Language Generation can offer you is language translation. This will allow you to open up your products to new markets, thanks to the ability to open up to different languages. Human language, as we know, is full of nuances, which is why artificial intelligence is destined to improve its performance more and more. And as a result, the improvement in performance will also correspond to its diffusion in companies: no longer only in large ones, but also in small and medium-sized businesses.

Did you already know the Natural Language Generation? The uses are different, you can also use it for your business: you just have to choose which process you want to automate. At Contents.com we can help you develop your project: discover our services and how to improve your business with us.

Contents

Contents is an innovative, high-performance marketing tech company that has developed a proprietary software platform that analyses, produces and distributes original. Contents also uses the Natural Language Generation system, based on Artificial Intelligence, which allows us to create natively multilingual and customised content in seconds, without the need for human intervention. Our services are designed for e-commerce, editors and web agencies. Sign up for free!