Joseph Weizenbaum
German-American computer scientist (1923 to 2008) who built ELIZA and became a critic of AI.
At a glance
Main ideas
The ELIZA effect, Deciding versus choosing, A conservative force …
See all 4Books to start with
Computer Power and Human Reason
Connections
Carl Rogers and Computer Power and Human Reason
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Weizenbaum was an MIT computer scientist who wrote ELIZA (1966), an early chatbot whose DOCTOR script mimicked a psychotherapist.
- He was shocked that people took the program seriously and confided in it.
- He became one of the leading critics of artificial intelligence and of society's trust in computers.
- His 1976 book Computer Power and Human Reason argued that some decisions should never be left to machines.
Why it matters
- His warning that people readily attribute understanding to simple programs, and that computers should not make human judgments, is more relevant than ever in the age of chatbots.
Key facts
- Born
- 8 Jan 1923, Berlin1
- Died
- 5 Mar 20081
- Emigration
- Left Nazi Germany with his family in January 1936 for the United States1
- War
- Meteorologist in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 19421
- Education
- Wayne State University: BS in mathematics (1948), MS (1950)1
- Career
- General Electric (ERMA cheque processing, 1956); MIT from 1963, full professor from 19701
- Legacy
- The Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society and the Weizenbaum Award are named after him1
Main ideas
-
The ELIZA effect1
People open their hearts to a simple pattern-matching program; his own secretary asked him to leave the room.
-
Deciding versus choosing1
Whether computers can do a task is irrelevant to whether they should.
-
A conservative force1
The computer, he argued, is at base a conservative force in society.
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A child of the military1
He worried about computing's ties to the military.
Books to start with
The line under a date fills as it gets older: empty when new, full at 2 years.
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Computer Power and Human Reason1
From judgment to calculation.
Connections
Links
Sources
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