ELIZA: The First Chatbot

ELIZA was one of the first chatbots in history, created in the mid-1960s by Joseph Weizenbaum at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. It was designed to simulate conversation using pattern-matching techniques, without actually understanding the content.

Historical Significance

ELIZA demonstrated the potential of human-computer interaction, making many users believe they were talking to an intelligent system. It paved the way for modern AI-driven conversational agents like Siri, Alexa, and ChatGPT.

Key Features

• Used simple pattern recognition and substitution to create responses.
• Most famous for its "DOCTOR" script, which mimicked a Rogerian psychotherapist.
• Did not understand meaning, but created the illusion of comprehension.
• Inspired future developments in natural language processing and AI.

Impact

Although ELIZA was a simple program, it showed how humans could emotionally connect with machines, influencing AI ethics and the study of natural language processing.