If software is narrative: Joseph Weizenbaum, artificial intelligence and the biographies of ELIZA

Abstract

Software is usually studied in terms of the changes triggered by its operations in the material world. Yet, to understand its social and cultural impact, one needs to examine also the different narratives that circulate about it. Software's opacity, in fact, makes it prone to being translated into a plurality of narratives that help people make sense of its functioning and presence. Drawing from the case of Joseph Weizenbaum's ELIZA, widely considered the first chatbot ever created, this paper proposes a theoretical framework based on the concept of "biographies of media" to illuminate the dynamics and implications of software's discursive life. The case of ELIZA is particularly relevant in this regard because it became the center of competing narratives, whose trajectories transcended the actual functioning of this program and shaped key controversies about the implications of computing and AI.

Rethinking the distinctions between old and new media: Introduction

“…A biography of Photoshop, for example, shows that material changes to its features over time as part of its various version upgrades prompted recurring debates about cultural value within the communities of practice who design and use it (Lesage, 2016). Similarly, Natale’s (2019) own biographical account of Joseph Weizenbaum’s early chatbot ELIZA shows how its material opacity led to its translation into a plurality of narratives that shaped people’s understandings of AI and chatbots. An example from this special issue is Bory’s (2019) examination of the narrativization of two formative events in AI’s introduction to the popular imagination.…”

Application of Artificial Intelligence: A Review

“…This is a major warning because if the AI robot is hacked and turned against its purpose it would be a nightmare. Joseph Weizenbaum proposed that AI applications cannot understand, by definition, effectively reproduce certified human compassion and that the utilization of AI innovation in fields [25]. Weizenbaum was also reported that AI specialists (and a few rationalists) were eager to see the human personality as just a PC program (a position presently known as computationalism).…”

“…Weizenbaum was also reported that AI specialists (and a few rationalists) were eager to see the human personality as just a PC program (a position presently known as computationalism). He also proposes that AI research depreciates human life [25]. Martin Ford reported that Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future, and others contend that particular artificial intelligence applications, robotics and different types of automation will eventually bring significant changes in job life that means huge unemployment as machines coordinate and surpass the ability of laborers to perform daily schedule and boring employments [26].…”

‘An Extremely Useful Invention’: Edison’s electric pen and the unravelling of old and new media

“…The letter employs a biographical narrative for the electric pen – a device that, like a human life, ‘had its day in the sun’, that tried to hold its own, and now is fading away into a vast field. If the letter described the failure of anything, it described the failure of the narrative surrounding the electric pen, a flaw in the story by which people were meant to comprehend new technologies and to integrate them into the practices of their daily lives (Natale, 2018). It would appear that from this agent’s admission, the narrative of the electric pen was wrong from the beginning – ‘had it been launched in a different manner it could have held its own’.…”