Natural language processing is something we encounter on a regular basis – but you probably didn't know that unless you're already well-versed in all things AI.

NLP, or natural language processing, is used in many ways and applications we take for granted: smartphone assistants, word processors, translation apps, and automatic voice response on customer service calls among other things.

You interact with NLP all the time without even realizing it.

Smartphones come with pre-downloaded voice assistants which utilize NLP to understand and interpret human speech and provide text- or voice-based responses to user queries. Word processors check for accuracy in terms of grammar, syntax, and logic of written user input. Translation apps process one language and change it, either in writing or speaking, to another language. And interactive voice response (IVR) applications are employed to listen to verbal requests and commands over the phone to guide people to the correct human customer service representative.

Though all of the above examples are used with regularity, few people understand how they're able to function. The answer is NLP.