Joseph Weizenbaum created ELIZA in 1964, an early chatbot simulating therapy by reflecting users’ statements. Unexpectedly, users grew emotionally attached to ELIZA, projecting human traits onto it. Fast forward to 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT made AI accessible, rapidly gaining over 100 million users. Now, chatbots serve complex roles including romantic partners and therapists, prompting ethical considerations. The history of AI spans symbolic and statistical approaches, leading to today’s language models, which are statistical products of vast datasets rather than explicit rules. Metaphorical interfaces, such as the desktop metaphor for personal computers, enhance user understanding of technology. ChatGPT leverages conversation as its guiding metaphor, allowing intuitive interaction with AI.
How to Speak to a Computer
