It’s easier to define such a branch of computer science as natural language understanding when opposing it to a better known-of and buzzwordy natural language processing. Both NLP and NLU are related but distinct fields within artificial intelligence that deal with the ability of computers to process and understand human language.

While NLP is concerned with the ability of computers to analyze, understand, and generate human language, NLU, on the other hand, is focused on the ability of computers to understand the meaning and context of human language. This includes tasks such as semantic analysis, which involves understanding the meaning of words and phrases in a given context, and discourse analysis, which consists in understanding the relationships between words and phrases in a larger text.

In general, NLP is focused on the technical aspects of processing and manipulating language, while NLU is concerned with understanding the meaning and context of language.