Inventing ELIZA & Critical Code Studies of the First Chatbot

It is with great pleasure that I share the prepublication version of the introduction to _Inventing ELIZA: How the First Chatbot Shaped the Future of AI _forthcoming this summer from MIT Press by Sarah Ciston (@SarahCiston) , David M. Berry (@berrydm), Anthony C. Hay (@anthony_hay), Mark C. Marino, Peter Millican, Jeff Shrager (@jshrager), Arthur I. Schwarz (@aschwarz) and Peggy Weil.  The book, which features an introduction by Janet Murray, a gorgeous design by Stefanie Tam, and the complete annotated code of ELIZA and DOCTOR by Joseph Weizenbaum, is available for pre-orders now, though a digital version will be open access. (The introduction has been emailed to all participants.)

This is a book with deep ties to the Working Group and that exemplifies and extends Critical Code Studies. Several Working Groups discussed versions of ELIZA's code or the DOCTOR script, including annotating the BASIC version by Jeff Shrager that inspired so many adaptations.

You will find additional resources at InventingEliza.com, our research group's website, and ELIZAgen, where Jeff has worked to trace lineages and legacies of versions of ELIZA.

The book owes its existence to so many here who have joined the discussions over the year. Jeremy (@jeremy), Claire (@clairejcarroll), Becky (@Becky), Nick (@nickm), among others, not to mention Patsy Baudoin, who pointed us to the location of the code in the MIT archives. 

I have started a thread in the Working Group for discussion of this intro and the process of researching and writing the book as well as resuscitating the original ELIZA, which involved the work of Rupert Lane among others. We can share lessons learned and discuss the introductory chapter.

Let's discuss!