ELIZA was an early computer program developed by Joseph Weizenbaum in the 1960s that simulated a therapist by responding to user inputs with questions or comments resembling those of a psychologist. The program utilized pattern recognition to create an illusion of conversation, but it had no real understanding of the user’s responses. ELIZA led some users to believe they were interacting with a “conscious” entity.
Joseph Weizenbaum, who created ELIZA, was surprised by how people reacted to the program, even though he understood it only followed simple patterns to create the illusion of comprehension. One of the most famous anecdotes involves Weizenbaum’s own secretary. When she tried ELIZA and began “talking” to the program as if it were a Rogerian therapist, she quickly became engaged and asked Weizenbaum to leave the room for “privacy” in her “conversation” with the computer.
Weizenbaum was shocked that such an intelligent person could become emotionally invested in a program that she knew lacked genuine understanding.
This experience led him to reflect on people’s tendency to attribute emotions and consciousness to machines and how easily an illusion of empathy could be created, which ultimately made him skeptical and critical of the future of artificial intelligence.