NLP for Social Good: A Survey and Outlook of Challenges, Opportunities and Responsible Deployment

Author

Karamolegkou, Antonia and Borah, Angana and Cho, Eunjung and Choudhury, Sagnik Ray and Galletti, Martina and Gupta, Pranav and Ignat, Oana and Kargupta, Priyanka and Kotonya, Neema and Lamba, Hemank and Lee, Sun-Joo and Mangla, Arushi and Mondal, Ishani and Moudakir, Fatima Zahra and Nazar, Deniz and Nemkova, Poli and Pisarevskaya, Dina and Rizwan, Naquee and Sabri, Nazanin and Samway, Keenan and Stammbach, Dominik and Schulten, Anna Steinberg and Tom{\'a}s, David and Wilson, Steven R and Yi, Bowen and Zhu, Jessica H and Zubiaga, Arkaitz and S{\o}gaard, Anders and Fraser, Alexander and Jin, Zhijing and Mihalcea, Rada and Tetreault, Joel R. and Dementieva, Daryna

Editor

Demberg, Vera and Inui, Kentaro and Marquez, Lluis

Abstract

Natural language processing (NLP) now shapes many aspects of our world, yet its potential for positive social impact is underexplored. This paper surveys work in ``NLP for Social Good'' (NLP4SG) across nine domains relevant to global development and risk agendas, summarizing principal tasks and challenges. We analyze ACL Anthology trends, finding that inclusion and AI harms attract the most research, while domains such as poverty, peacebuilding, and environmental protection remain underexplored. Guided by our review, we outline opportunities for responsible and equitable NLP and conclude with a call for cross-disciplinary partnerships and human-centered approaches to ensure that future NLP technologies advance the public good.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.eacl-long.238