Knowledge-Based Approaches: Session Introduction

As r e s e a r c h i n n a t u r a l l a n g u a g e p r o c e s s i n g spawns c o m m e r c i a l p r o d u c t s , a s i t now b e g i n s Co, o u r r e s e a r c h communi ty a c q u i r e s new e t h i c a l and p r a c t i c a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s . All software packages have limitations, and research progress consists in d e v i s i n g t e c h n i q u e s t h a t l e a d t o r e d u c i n g t h e s e l i m i t a t i o n s . The re i s e v e r y r e a s o n t o b e l i e v e t h a t currently available natural language interfaces may be of significant value to those who purchase them, despite their limitations, and that their successors will be of even greater value. Our responsibility to accurately convey the limitations of existing systems, as well as their capabilities, is two-fold: an ethical responsibility t o the p u b l i c not to mislead potential consumers, and a p r a c t i c a l responsibility to each other not to destroy the credibility of f u t u r e r e s e a r c h r e s u l t s t h a t l e a d Co enhanced language p r o c e s s i n g capabilities.