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World’s 1st Chatbot ‘ELIZA’ Resurrected After 60 Years

Eliza Chatbot

In a remarkable achievement, scientists have successfully resurrected “ELIZA,” the world’s first chatbot, using computer code lost for six decades. This milestone not only underscores the ingenuity of early artificial intelligence (AI) but also serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving computing history.

Developed in the 1960s by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum, ELIZA was a groundbreaking program that simulated conversations as a psychotherapist. It was written in a now-defunct programming language called MAD-SLIP and later adapted into Lisp. Despite its simplicity compared to modern AI systems, ELIZA captivated users by prompting meaningful interactions, setting the foundation for today’s chatbots.

The original 420-line code, long thought lost, was rediscovered in 2021 among Weizenbaum’s papers by Jeff Shrager, a Stanford University cognitive scientist, and Myles Crowley, an MIT archivist. After painstakingly debugging the code and creating an emulator to mimic 1960s hardware, the team successfully brought ELIZA back to life on December 21, 2024.

“Bringing ELIZA back demonstrates how AI history remains relevant today,” Shrager remarked. The team opted not to fix a small bug in the program to preserve its authenticity, much like leaving a flaw in a historic artwork.

While ELIZA’s conversational abilities cannot rival modern large-language models like ChatGPT, it remains a testament to early innovation in human-computer communication. Its unique ability to listen and prompt further conversation, rather than merely complete sentences, still stands out.

Experts argue that preserving such technological artifacts is crucial for understanding cultural history. “Computing history is cultural history,” said David Berry, a digital humanities professor at the University of Sussex. “If we don’t protect these digital treasures, we risk losing the equivalents of the Mona Lisa or the Acropolis in the digital age.”

ELIZA’s resurrection not only brings a nostalgic glance into the past but also sheds light on how far AI has evolved, inspiring a renewed appreciation for the pioneers who laid the groundwork for today’s innovations.

Via – Live Science

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