BRAINWASH BIRDBRAIN ASK ELIZA – 2019 Installation, "Toys," Athens Cultural Center, Athens, NY
Who is ELIZA?
ELIZA is the computer program designed by professor Joeseph Weizenbaum at MIT in the late 1960s, considered to be the very first computer program written intentionally to mimic conversation between two humans. ELIZA was the precursor to all interactive artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
“Alexa,” “Siri,” and AMTRAK’S “Julie,” along with the many other excruciating “conversations” one has with an automated response, all owe their beginnings to ELIZA.
Meant as a “toy” or parody system, the ELIZA program (“DOCTOR”) used here in BRAINWASH BIRDBRAIN, was designed to follow the Rogeria psychotherapy structure, where the therapist basically parrots the patient’s questions.
It may be hard to imagine, but when ELIZA was first implemented it was considered revolutionary. Read more >