Construction Grammar and Artificial Intelligence

In this chapter, we argue that it is highly beneficial for the contemporary construction grammarian to have a thorough understanding of the strong relationship between the research fields of Construction Grammar and artificial intelligence. We start by unraveling the historical links between the two fields, showing that their relationship is rooted in a common attitude towards human communication and language. We then discuss the first direction of influence, focusing on how insights and techniques from the field of artificial intelligence play an important role in operationalizing, validating, and scaling constructionist approaches to language. We then proceed to the second direction of influence, highlighting the relevance of Construction Grammar insights and analyses to the artificial intelligence endeavor of building truly intelligent agents. We support our case with a variety of illustrative examples and conclude that further elaboration of this relationship will play a key role in shaping the future of the field of Construction Grammar.