Researchers recover original ELIZA source code, revealing multiple program versions and scripts beyond the famous Doctor persona
Research publication Provisional 92% confidence first seen
Researchers recovered the original source code for ELIZA, the 1960s chatbot, from MIT archives and found that it was a more sophisticated platform than previously understood, capable of adopting multiple personas through different scripts such as a doctor, math tutor, poet, and weather commentator. The discovery challenges popular misconceptions about ELIZA's design and provides insights into why users attributed emotional intelligence and empathy to the system despite its reliance on scripted responses—a phenomenon known as the ELIZA effect that remains relevant to modern AI systems like ChatGPT.