Has It All Been Solved? Open NLP Research Questions Not Solved by Large Language Models
This work provides guidance for NLP researchers, especially early-career ones, on open research questions beyond LLMs, though it is incremental as it compiles existing gaps rather than proposing new solutions.
The paper addresses the misconception that large language models (LLMs) have solved all NLP problems by identifying 14 research areas with 45 directions that remain unsolved by LLMs, focusing on areas not directly addressed by current LLM capabilities.
Recent progress in large language models (LLMs) has enabled the deployment of many generative NLP applications. At the same time, it has also led to a misleading public discourse that ``it's all been solved.'' Not surprisingly, this has, in turn, made many NLP researchers -- especially those at the beginning of their careers -- worry about what NLP research area they should focus on. Has it all been solved, or what remaining questions can we work on regardless of LLMs? To address this question, this paper compiles NLP research directions rich for exploration. We identify fourteen different research areas encompassing 45 research directions that require new research and are not directly solvable by LLMs. While we identify many research areas, many others exist; we do not cover areas currently addressed by LLMs, but where LLMs lag behind in performance or those focused on LLM development. We welcome suggestions for other research directions to include: https://bit.ly/nlp-era-llm