The aim of artificial intelligence (AI) with respect to language is to develop computational models of the knowledge and the processes involved in executing linguistic tasks including speaking and writing, understanding, language acquisition, and several more specific skills such as translating and correcting. The computational study of natural language is often referred to as natural language processing (NLP) or computational linguistics (CL). This essay only introduces central AI and CL assumptions and methods. It discusses the (principal formalisms of) representation and use of the notion of knowledge in AI, devoting special attention to pragmatics-related issues.