Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
On one occasion ELIZA accidentally became involved in a conversation
that has since become the stuff of legend in the world of AI. Early one
Saturday morning a vice president of Bolt, Beranek, and Newman
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ar-
rived in the MIT computer room hoping to be able to use their PDP-
1 computer for a demonstration. In those days communication with
computers was often by teletype, an electro-mechanical typewriter, and
lying on the teletype was a note that read: “TYPE ALL MESSAGES
INTO THIS TELETYPE AND END THEM WITH A PERIOD.”
The BBN vice-president thought that the note indicated that this tele-
type was linked with one located at the home of Daniel Bobrow, one of
the pioneers of NLP, who often worked at home and used the computer
all night. So the vice-president started typing to Bobrow, as he thought,
but in fact he was typing to a version of ELIZA, with the following result:
Vice-president: Do you think that I can use the computer
this morning?
ELIZA:
Why do you ask?
Vice-president:
I might be able to make some additional Tel-
com sales.
ELIZA:
Why aren't you so sure?
Vice-president: My prospective customers have never seen a
demonstration of the system.
ELIZA:
Does this mean very much to you?
Vice-president: Of course it does.
ELIZA:
You seem very positive about that.
Vice-president: This is ridiculous.
ELIZA:
What do you mean, this is ridiculous?
Vice-president:
Is there any reason why I can't use the com-
puter now?
ELIZA: Tell me more about your prospective cus-
tomers.
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