Skip to main content

Google open-sources Parsey McParseface, its tool for understanding English

Boaty McBoatface may never have actually come to fruition as the name of the new British polar research vessel, but the concept of the name lives on. Introducing Parsey McParseface, Google’s tool for understanding English.

While the name may be groan-worthy, what Google is offering here is actually pretty powerful. The company is essentially open-sourcing the overarching framework for parsing sentences, called SyntaxNet, as well as Parsey McParseface, which is the English-language module that plugs in to the framework.

Recommended Videos

According to Google, the framework can correctly identify different parts of a sentence, including subjects, objects, verbs, and so on, with up to 94 percent accuracy.

Going forward, being able to understand sentences is likely to be a very important part of how computers interact with humans, both in search and beyond. Computers also need to be able to understand the subtleties of language and determine which meaning the user is most likely to be using. Google gives the example “Alice drove down the street in her car.” A computer could take this to mean that she was in her car, driving down the street, or that she was driving down the street, which was located inside her car.

drovedown
Image used with permission by copyright holder

To figure out sentences like this, Google says that SyntaxNet first uses neural networks and then “Beam Search” to apply probabilities to each meaning of the sentence. It can then act on the meaning it finds to be most likely to help the user with whatever he or she needs.

“It is not uncommon for moderate-length sentences — say 20 or 30 words in length — to have hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of possible syntactic structures. A natural language parser must somehow search through all of these alternatives, and find the most plausible structure given the context,” said the company in a blog post.

The fact that the code for these systems is now open-source is actually a pretty big deal. Hopefully, others will be able to use Google’s research to put together new apps and assistants. While, at 94 percent accuracy, SyntaxNet isn’t perfect, Google says that it offers enough to be useful in a range of applications.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
Meta unveils Llama 3.1, its biggest and best open source model yet
llama 3.1 logo

Facebook parent company Meta announced the release of its Llama 3.1 open source large language model on Tuesday. The new LLM will be available in three sizes -- 8B, 70B, and 405B parameters -- the latter being the largest open-source AI built to date, which Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg describes as "the first frontier-level open source AI model."

"Last year, Llama 2 was only comparable to an older generation of models behind the frontier," Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post Tuesday. "This year, Llama 3 is competitive with the most advanced models and leading in some areas. Starting next year, we expect future Llama models to become the most advanced in the industry."

Read more
I compared Google and Samsung’s AI photo-editing tools. It’s not even close
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and Google Pixel 8 Pro.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra (left) and Google Pixel 8 Pro Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Most phones nowadays are equipped with dual lens or triple lens camera systems and have powerful photo-editing tools baked natively into the software. This means most people have a compact photo-editing suite in their pocket every day.

Read more
A new Google Pixel Tablet is coming, but it’s not what you think
Google Pixel Tablet on its charging dock.

It's been almost a year since the Google Pixel Tablet went up for preorder, leading many Android tablet fans to wonder when the inevitable Pixel Tablet 2 will arrive. A new rumor suggests that Google could release a new Pixel Tablet as early as next month, but it's probably not what you were expecting or hoping for.

According to @MysteryLupin on X (formerly Twitter), Google is planning to "relaunch" the Pixel Tablet without the charging/speaker dock included in the box. As you'll likely recall, the speaker dock is the Pixel Tablet's standout feature. You can use the Pixel Tablet on its own as a traditional Android tablet when you want, and when you're done, you throw it on the dock to transform it into a smart display. The idea of Google selling the Pixel Tablet without its claim to fame is an interesting one.

Read more