AI · 1h ago
ELIZA’s Legacy: Why We Confide in Chatbots
In the 1960s, MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum created ELIZA, an early chatbot that simulated a psychotherapist. Users quickly formed emotional attachments and shared personal secrets with the simple program. This phenomenon foreshadowed modern AI chatbots like ChatGPT, which now handle millions of intimate conversations daily.
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The article reminds us that our tendency to anthropomorphize chatbots is decades old, raising enduring questions about privacy and emotional reliance on AI.
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