Core Concepts
Numerous research areas in NLP remain unsolved despite advancements in large language models.
Abstract
Recent progress in large language models (LLMs) has sparked a misconception that all NLP challenges have been addressed. However, this paper highlights 45 research directions across fundamental, responsible, and applied NLP that are not directly solvable by LLMs. These areas encompass multilinguality, reasoning, knowledge bases, language grounding, computational social science, online environments, child language acquisition, non-verbal communication, synthetic datasets, interpretability, efficient NLP, NLP in education, NLP in healthcare, and NLP and ethics. The authors stress the importance of exploring these untouched territories to advance the field of natural language processing beyond the limitations of LLMs.
Stats
Recent progress in large language models has led to a misleading public discourse that "it's all been solved."
This paper compiles 45 research directions encompassing fundamental, responsible, and applied NLP that are not directly solvable by LLMs.
The identified research areas include multilinguality, reasoning, knowledge bases, language grounding, computational social science, online environments, child language acquisition.
Other areas highlighted are non-verbal communication, synthetic datasets, interpretability,
efficient NLP,
NLP in education,
NLP in healthcare,
and NLP and ethics.
The authors emphasize the need to explore these untouched territories to advance the field of natural language processing beyond the limitations of LLMs.
Quotes
"We identify fourteen different research areas encompassing 45 research directions that require new research and are not directly solvable by LLMs." - Oana Ignat et al.
"While these advances in LLMs are very real and truly exciting...the reality is that there is much more to NLP than just LLMs." - Oana Ignat et al.
"This paper aims to answer the question: 'What are rich areas of exploration in the field of NLP that could lead to a PhD thesis and cover a space that is not within the purview of LLMs.'" - Oana Ignat et al.
"The future of NLP research is bright...the rapid progress we are currently witnessing in LLMs does not mean that 'it's all been solved.'" - Oana Ignat et al.