The computer science major is one that must keep up with the changing times. It is critical that the major prepares students for the world that they will enter. One of the greatest transformations in computer science is the dominance of natural language processing (NLP) in the computer science industry. New technology, such as voice-to-text, Alexa, Siri, and Google Duplex, are dominating the industry in which students will be immersed upon graduation. Since CSU East Bay aims to produce computer science major graduates who are competent and ready to enter the work force, it makes sense that the major should include NLP courses that prepare CSU East Bay students for the evolutions in computer science. Therefore, because computer science has evolved to include NLP in many applications, it is necessary that CSU East Bay incorporate NLP as a premier class offered to computer science majors.
In the past, touchscreen modalities have been the foremost mode of interaction between humans and computers. This mode of interaction is quickly becoming replaced with the technology of voice commands. This evolution towards voice commands appeals to humans because speech is our natural form of communication. Since computers have evolved to become an integral part of human life, it makes sense that voice commands will overtake the keystroke input of the past. It is much easier and much more natural to speak to a computer rather than input all communications through a touchscreen or a keyboard. Technology such as Siri and Alexa rely on voice commands to carry out their duties: “Alexa, turn on the living room lights,” or “Alexa, shut the front gate,” are common in today’s world. It is not only technology like Siri and Alexa which use voice commands for it appears that voice commands are dominating everything from retail technology to creating a space where computers can act as personal assistants. CSU East Bay cannot ignore this progression of NLP in the computer science major because NLP may constitute the majority of what it is that CSU East Bay graduates are involved with in their future careers.
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The British entrepreneur who created Alexa states that a future of AI and voice interaction is inevitable: “What we really want is a kind of superhuman sales assistant that you can have a conversation with – an AI that would be showing you product, answering questions and taking into account your circumstances to sell you something” (Arthur). This type of super-salesperson is going to be created by computer science majors. In order for computer science majors to be qualified to take on the complexities of NLP, it is critical that the computer science major expands its course offerings to include, or require, NLP courses. CSU East Bay should not be the last school to jump on the NLP progression because this will cause students to apply to schools that do offer NLP courses as a part of the computer science major.
Recently, Google revealed its new AI that features NLP, Google Duplex. This is a computerized voice that is programmed to interact with humans in order to perform tasks such as booking appointments, making reservations, and other such tasks that require customer service. Interestingly, the coding for Google Duplex goes beyond simply recognizing the words that are being said and includes recognition of tone of voice (Bonne). If the end uses seems frustrated or sad, Google Duplex is coded to respond emotively, not just technically (Bonne). The fact that NLP includes recognition of human emotion and includes the ability to react in an appropriately emotional manner, shows that the progression of NLP is pacing itself ahead of simple codes for words and phrases. The demand for workers with qualifications in NLP grew over 200% this past year. Consider that in the past, the demand for engineers with networking, database, and distributed computation skills were in high demand in the workforce and the computer science major included courses that reflected this demand. The need to improve the computer science major is evident in the quick progression of AI and NLP in the real world.
Graduates should be at the forefront of real-world technology. It is imperative that the administration at CSU East Bay acknowledge the future of the computer science major as one that will inevitably involve NLP. For this reason, NLP courses should become a core part of the computer science major at CSU East Bay in order to prepare graduates to excel in their future careers. It is only by offering courses that reflect the future of computer science students that CSU East Bay will continue to attract top-rated applicants to our campus. Therefore, in order to ensure that CSU East Bay graduates are successful in the real world, it is necessary that CSU East Bay incorporate NLP courses into the computer science major.
- Arthur, Rachel. “Amazon Alexa’s Founder on How Voice Tech Will Impact Retail.” Forbes, 2018, www.forbes.com/
- Bonne, Dieter. “Google Duplex really works and testing begins this summer.” The Verge, 2018, www.theverge.com/
