ELIZA

ELIZA was a simple program written by MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum between 1964 and 1966. It used pattern-matching and substitution to simulate a psychotherapist, rephrasing users' statements as questions in the style of Carl Rogers. 'I feel sad' became 'Why do you feel sad?'; 'My mother doesn't understand me' became 'Tell me more about your mother.' ELIZA understood nothing—had no model of the user, no concept of emotion, no knowledge beyond textual templates. Weizenbaum designed it to demonstrate the superficiality of human-computer interaction. Instead, he watched his own secretary—who knew ELIZA was code—ask him to leave the room so she could converse privately. The experience transformed Weizenbaum from technologist to critic; he spent the rest of his career warning about humans' vulnerability to machines performing understanding. ELIZA became the paradigm case for what Turkle calls artificial intimacy: the tendency to accept performance as substance when the performance meets relational needs.