Definition
Natural language processing is the field of building computational systems that analyze, represent, understand, retrieve, translate, or generate human language. It includes tasks such as classification, information extraction, search, translation, summarization, question answering, and dialogue.
Modern NLP often uses transformers and large language models, but the field predates both and also includes rules, statistical models, classifiers, retrieval systems, and hybrid approaches.
Distinguish it from nearby terms
NLP is a field and task family. An LLM is one model class used for NLP, and a chatbot is one application that may use NLP. Language fluency does not prove factual grounding, reasoning, or understanding in the human sense.
Check your understanding
Name the language task and evaluation target rather than treating "uses NLP" as a capability claim.