Let’s write ELIZA, the original chatbot from 1964, in Python!

We can’t write ChatGPT in an evening, but we can write ELIZA, the original chatbot from 1964 from MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab in that time!

Created by computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum from 1964 through 1966 in the MAD-SLIP programming language (here’s the original code), ELIZA was a program that simulated a psychotherapist. Instead of using today’s fancy large language models (LLMs), it used pattern-matching to produce responses that reflect what the user entered or tried to get the user to talk about what they just said.

ELIZA was part of the early wave of artificial intelligence research, a time when computers took up whole rooms, and AI programming was mostly rule-based instead of today’s preferred method of machine learning. Although ELIZAs roots are in university labs in the 1960s, it became a popular application for the 8-bit home computers of the 1980s, running on devices such as the Apple ][, Radio Shack TRS-80, Commodore’s PET, VIC-20, and 64, and the Atari 400 and 800 computers.

This is a coding workshop! It’s going to be a “code along with me” exercise, where I’ll give you a “starter” project in Python, and we’ll add code to it together. You’ll leave the meetup with a working version of ELIZA, and along the way, you’ll learn how it works, and even how you might want to modify it.

You don’t have to know much Python to get something out of this workshop. If you can do a little JavaScript coding, you’ll do fine.

You’ll need to bring the following:

• A laptop that’s suitable for coding. If it was made sometime in the last 12 years and has at least 4GB of RAM and can connect to a wifi network, it’ll do.
• Python. If you’re new to Python, install Anaconda Python.
• A code editor, like Visual Studio Code.

There’s limited space at this venue, so if you want to attend, make sure that you actually want to do some coding and learning. There will be no spectators at this meetup — only participants!

Nobody learns well on an empty stomach, so we’ll provide pizza, soft drinks, and water, courtesy of our sponsors, Auth0 and Okta!

We’d like to thank Computer Coach for the use of their space!