En route to artificial intelligence, software learns language

Adios (automatic distillation of structure) software program uses statistical algorithms to infer the underlying grammar rules in text, and then uses those rules to generate new and meaningful sentences. Still, some linguists reject Edelman´s claim that he and his colleagues have taken the most basic steps toward replicating human language acquisition. Many linguists who believe that we are born with grammar already hardwired in our brains that we all hold a kind of universal knowledge base for language, and the words we learn as we grow are just refinements to that base. In contrast, Adios starts with a blank slate.