Researchers discovered long-lost computer code and used it to resurrect the early chatbot ELIZA from MIT. Named after Eliza Doolittle from 'Pygmalion,' ELIZA was developed in the 1960s by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum. It was designed to emulate a psychotherapist in conversation and used a unique programming language called MAD-SLIP. Rediscovered in 2021, the original code was brought back to life after 60 years, demonstrating the chatbot's functionality and highlighting the historical significance of early artificial intelligence.
The ELIZA chatbot, created in the 1960s by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT, has been painstakingly reconstructed from archived records and run for the first time in over half a century. This effort marks a significant step in preserving one of the earliest examples of artificial intelligence. Despite its rudimentary nature compared to modern AI, ELIZA's resurrection highlights its historical importance.
The original 1965 chatbot restored on the world's first time-sharing system, ELIZA, created by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT in 1964-6, is running again on a reconstructed version of MIT's CTSS, running on an emulated IBM 7094.
An interdisciplinary research project exploring the history and ideas behind the influential ELIZA chatbot, created in the 1960s. The project aims to contextualize ELIZA, analyze its code, and examine its cultural impact on human-computer interaction.
