How does AI handle numbers versus text data?
Asked on Aug 10, 2025
Answer
AI systems process numbers and text data differently, leveraging specific techniques suited to each data type. Numbers are typically handled directly through mathematical operations, while text requires transformation into numerical representations for processing.
Example Concept: AI handles numbers directly using mathematical operations, as they are inherently numerical. Text data, however, must be converted into a numerical format, often through techniques like tokenization and embedding, which transform words or sentences into vectors that can be processed by machine learning models.
Additional Comment:
- Numbers are often normalized or standardized to improve model performance.
- Text data is preprocessed using methods like tokenization, which breaks down text into smaller units (tokens).
- Embeddings, such as word2vec or BERT, convert text into dense vectors that capture semantic meaning.
- Handling text data typically involves more preprocessing steps compared to numerical data.
- AI models like neural networks can process both types of data once they are in a numerical format.
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