Embeddings in Natural Language Processing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has undoubtedly been one of the most important buz- zwords over the past years. The goal in AI is to design algorithms that transform com- puters into “intelligent” agents. By intelligence here we do not necessarily mean an extraordinary level of smartness shown by superhuman; it rather often involves very basic problems that humans solve very frequently in their day-to-day life. This can be as simple as recognizing faces in an image, driving a car, playing a board game, or reading (and understanding) an article in a newspaper. The intelligent behaviour ex- hibited by humans when “reading” is one of the main goals for a subfield of AI called Natural Language Processing (NLP). Natural language 1 is one of the most complex tools used by humans for a wide range of reasons, for instance to communicate with others, to express thoughts, feelings and ideas, to ask questions, or to give instruc- tions. Therefore, it is crucial for computers to possess the ability to use the same tool in order to effectively interact with humans.