The ELIZA Effect at Scale

How a 1966 Chatbot Predicted the Emotional Economy of AI

In 1966, a MIT professor named Joseph Weizenbaum built a simple chatbot called ELIZA. It used pattern matching to simulate a Rogerian¹ therapist. You’d type “I’m feeling sad,” and it would respond “Why do you say you are feeling sad?” Very basic stuff, its not AI, there is no understanding, just string manipulation.

Weizenbaum’s secretary knew this. She w…