Natural Language Processing and User Modeling: Synergies and Limitations

The fields of user modeling and natural language processing have been closely linked since the early days of user modeling. Natural language systems consult user models in order to improve their understanding of users' requirements and to generate appropriate and relevant responses. At the same time, the information natural language systems obtain from their users is expected to increase the accuracy of their user models. In this paper, we review natural language systems for generation, understanding and dialogue, focusing on the requirements and limitations these systems and user models place on each other. We then propose avenues for future research.