NLP Architect by Intel® AI LAB

NLP Architect is an open-source Python library for exploring state-of-the-art deep learning topologies and techniques for natural language processing and natural language understanding. It is intended to be a platform for future research and collaboration.

Documentation

Framework documentation on NLP models, algorithms, and modules, and instructions on how to contribute can be found at our main documentation site.

Installation

Installing NLP Architect within a virtual environment to ensure a self-contained environment is recommended. To install NLP Architect within a new or already-existing virtual environment, or to install it system-wide, see the "Custom installations" section below.

Default installation (works with Python 3.n+ only)

To get started, clone our repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/NervanaSystems/nlp-architect.git
$ cd nlp-architect

Note that the setuptools package from a recent version of pip is needed to get the make command to build properly.

$ pip3 install -U setuptools  

Install in development mode (default):

$ make

Activate the newly-created virtual environment:

$ . .nlp_architect_env/bin/activate

Fire up your favorite IDE/text editor/terminal and start running models.

Custom installations

• Python 3 venv The default installation instructions create a venv named .nlp_architect_env. If this is not ideal for your needs, (for example, if you want to name it something else or use an already-existing virtual env), simply create or enter the local virtual environment you want to use, activate it, and install the library in development mode with:

  $ (py3_venv) make install_no_virt_env

  Note that setuptools from a recent version of pip is needed to get the make command to build properly.

• System-wide install -- A system install might require sudo permissions:

  $ make sysinstall

Note that all installations use CPU-based installations of Tensorflow/Dynet/Neon/nGraph. To install GPU supported binaries please refer to the framework's website for installation instructions.

NLP Architect overview

The current version of NLP Architect includes these features that we found interesting from both research perspectives and practical applications:

• NLP core models and NLU modules that provide best in class performance: Intent Extraction (IE), Name Entity Recognition (NER), Word Chunker, Dependency parser (BIST)
• Modules that address semantic understanding: co-locations, most common word sense, NP embedding representation (NP2Vec)
• Components instrumental for conversational AI: ChatBot applications (Memory Networks for Dialog, Key-Value Memory Networks), Noun Phrase extraction
• End-to-end DL applications using new topologies: Q&A, machine reading comprehension, Language modeling using Temporal Convolution Networks (TCN), Unsupervised Cross-lingual embeddings.
• Solutions using one or more models: Set Term expansion which uses the included word chunker as a noun phrase extractor and NP2Vec.

The library consists of core modules (topologies), data pipelines, utilities and end-to-end model examples with training and inference scripts. We look at these as a set of building blocks that were needed for implementing NLP use cases based on our pragmatic research experience. Each of the models includes algorithm descriptions and results in the documentation.

Some of the components, with provided pre-trained models, are exposed as REST service APIs through NLP Architect server. NLP Architect server is designed to provide predictions across different models in NLP Architect. It also includes a web front-end exposing the model annotations for visualizations. The server supports extensions via a template for developers to add a new service. For detailed documentation see this page.

Below are examples of NLP Architect server in action

BIST Parser UI

NER Parser UI

Spacy NER Parser UI

Deep Learning Frameworks

Because of its current research nature, several open source deep learning frameworks are used in this repository including:

• Intel® nGraph Python API
• TensorFlow
• Intel-Optimized TensorFlow
• Keras
• Dynet

NLP Architect is an active space of research and development; Throughout future releases new models, solutions, topologies and framework additions and changes will be made. We aim to make sure all models run with Python 3.5+. We encourage researchers and developers to contribute their work into the library.

Disclaimer

The NLP Architect is released as reference code for research purposes. It is not an official Intel product, and the level of quality and support may not be as expected from an official product. Additional algorithms and environments are planned to be added to the framework. Feedback and contributions from the open source and NLP research communities are more than welcome.

Contact

Contact the NLP Architect development team through Github issues or email: [email protected]