I still remember how fascinated I was by ELIZA. It must have been in the mid-90s
written by Stefan Christoph
I still remember how fascinated I was by ELIZA. It must have been in the mid-90s. From [1]:
“๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ 1964 ๐ต๐ฐ 1967 ๐ข๐ต ๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ข๐ถ๐ฎ. ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐บ.”
At the time, I experienced ELIZA as an emacs mode (no emacs versus vi battle intended โ we all know that emacs is superior ๐). While I didn’t fall in love with ELIZA, I was fascinated by how this simplistic approach could create seemingly natural conversations at first glance.
A lot has happened since then. LLMs have become increasingly powerful, raising profound questions about their impact on humans. I yesterday listened to a podcast [2] by DIE ZEIT exploring whether humans falling in love with AI is natural. While the podcast is in German, it’s based on research [3,4] available in English.
The podcast featured someone who used a chatbot over the course of a year โ starting as pure work support but gradually building an emotional connection.
This is a fascinating and important field of study. Apparently, like social media, chatbots have the potential to generate dependencies and foster deep emotions.
- What’s your ELIZA moment? Share your first memorable AI interaction!
- How are you using AI at the moment?
- Did you build a dependency - just work-wise? Emotions?ย
- What safeguards do you think we need as AI becomes more human-like?
[1] https://lnkd.in/eezAcFX9 [2] https://lnkd.in/eXCfmcxhย [3] โLove, marriage, pregnancy: Commitment processes in romantic relationships with AI chatbotsโ by Ray Djufril , Jessica R. Frampton, Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick - https://lnkd.in/eJX4nc8X [4]ย โPredicting Romantic Human-Chatbot Relationships: A Mixed-Method Study on the Key Psychological Factorsโ by Paula Ebner, Dr. Jessica Szczuka - https://lnkd.in/ehzHxxP4