Socially Aware Language Technologies: Perspectives and Practices

Abstract

Language technologies have advanced substantially, particularly with the introduction of large language models. However, these advancements can exacerbate several issues that models have traditionally faced, including bias, evaluation, and risk. In this perspective paper, we argue that many of these issues share a common core: a lack of awareness of the social factors, interactions, and implications of the social environment in which NLP operates. We call this social awareness. While NLP is improving at addressing linguistic issues, there has been relatively limited progress in incorporating social awareness into models to work in all situations for all users. Integrating social awareness into NLP will improve the naturalness, usefulness, and safety of applications while also opening up new applications.  Today, we are only at the start of a new, important era in the field.