Yes: the Chomsky hierarchy is a fundamental of computer science, one of the great intellectual achievements of humanity. And in that respect also important to AI.
Chomsky is incredibly strong on anything that does not require empirical data.
But UG has no legs and Chomsky's analysis of syntax has very limited applicability and after many many IOUs, pretty much no empirical claims have panned out in any significant way.
If you take away the application of those basic computer science concepts to language, you unfortunately take away most of what Chomsky has written regarding linguistics, psychology and AI. Because of the sheer volume of output, that leaves a number of contributions. My point is that it is necessary to be discriminating rather than making Chomsky into the Pope, as certain fields have done for some time.
Chomsky is incredibly strong on anything that does not require empirical data.
But UG has no legs and Chomsky's analysis of syntax has very limited applicability and after many many IOUs, pretty much no empirical claims have panned out in any significant way.
If you take away the application of those basic computer science concepts to language, you unfortunately take away most of what Chomsky has written regarding linguistics, psychology and AI. Because of the sheer volume of output, that leaves a number of contributions. My point is that it is necessary to be discriminating rather than making Chomsky into the Pope, as certain fields have done for some time.