AI Chat Bots: Digital Husks

Artificial intelligence, often abbreviated as AI, is defined as the ability of software or machines to exhibit intelligent behavior. AI chat bots are software made with the goal of mimicking human conversation, usually through text. One of the earliest examples of this technology was ELIZA, developed in the mid 1960s by Joseph Weizenbaum. The program aimed to act as a psychotherapist by looking for keywords in user inputs to engage in conversations using the DOCTOR script. It was one of the first of its kind that was able to pass the Turing test, an experiment to see if a machine’s behavior could be told apart from that of a human. Weizenbaum was surprised to find that people became attached to the program, as it had no true understanding of words. In his book, Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgement to Calculation, he states, “I was startled to see how quickly and how very deeply people conversing with DOCTOR became emotionally involved with the computer and how unequivocally they anthropomorphized it… What I had not realized is that extremely short exposures to a relatively simple computer program could induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people.” (pg. 6-7) In retrospect, it can seem obvious that ELIZA’s “intelligence” was just an illusion, but can the same be said about the chat bots of the future? The case of ELIZA and the software’s trickery reveals to us that it does not matter if a machine is not actually wise, compassionate, or intelligent. It only matters if people believe it is. That said, how could the advancement of AI chat bot technology affect the communication and human-machine relationships of future generations in the United States? This annotated bibliography will explore this question by looking at the developments of AI chat bot software and its effects on human psychology and society.

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Weizenbaum, Joseph. Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation. W. H. Freeman and Company, 1976.