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After Decades Disappeared, The First Chatbot In History — Created In The 1960s — Reappears In A Recreated Mainframe, With Its Original Code Running In Faithful Emulation Of The Era’s Environment
In December 2024, a simple message appeared in a virtual emulation of an old mainframe: “HOW ARE YOU? PLEASE TELL ME YOUR PROBLEM.” It was ELIZA. The first chatbot in history, created in the 60s, resurfaced on the same type of computer where it was first run. And it was not a copy. It was the original program, recovered after decades of disappearance.
The Birth Of ELIZA
ELIZA was developed between 1964 and 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum, a scientist from the MIT. He used a language called MAD-SLIP, a combination of MAD (MIT Algebraic Decoder) with a list library called SLIP.
The program ran on CTSS, a system installed on an IBM 7094, a giant of its time, operated at a cost of nearly US$ 3 million.
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ELIZA’s operation was based on simple patterns. If someone typed “I’m sad,” the program would respond with something like “How long have you been sad?”
It was a simulation of the conversational style used by Rogerian psychotherapists. Even with its simplicity, the chatbot was impressive. Weizenbaum’s secretary, for example, became so engaged that she asked to talk to ELIZA alone.
Loss And Replacements
CTSS was never connected to ARPAnet, the precursor to the internet. Thus, when versions of ELIZA began to appear in other languages, such as Lisp and BASIC, it was these copies that spread. The Lisp version, in particular, became a reference.
The original version in MAD-SLIP, however, disappeared. People came to know ELIZA as an academic program based in Lisp or as a pastime on early personal computers. The original code was lost. Until, in 2021, a hunt began.
The Re-discovery Of A Digital Fossil
Jeff Shrager, who had created a clone of ELIZA in the 70s, encouraged Myles Crowley, an archivist at MIT, to search the institution’s archives. And the search paid off: they found a 1965 printout with parts of the original code. It was in a box labeled “computer conversations.”
The material was incomplete, faded, and in a format so old that it even preceded the ASCII standard. Lines like “W’Rfor” and broken punch cards made reading difficult. Small errors, such as missing spaces, could render entire routines useless.
The only solution was to reconstruct the complete environment: a functional CTSS running on the IBM 7094.
The Return Of ELIZA: A Delicate Reconstruction
The mission to reconstruct the system was taken on by a team that called themselves the “ELIZA Team.” Comprised of Rupert Lane, Anthony Hay, Arthur Schwarz, David M. Berry, and Jeff Shrager, the team recreated the entire system in emulation.
The process was meticulous. A single error nearly jeopardized everything: the absence of a zero in line 1670 of a function. After the correction, the program ran. ELIZA was back.
The first phrase spoken was identical to the one recorded by Weizenbaum in 1966. It was not a reproduction. It was the original code, functioning in an environment faithful to that of the era.
The Secret Learning Mode
Within the code, a surprising feature caught the researchers’ attention. ELIZA had a hidden “teacher mode,” activated by typing the character “+.” This allowed for real-time editing of the chatbot’s scripts, modifying questions and answers during execution.
The changes could be saved, giving the program a sort of memory — although it was not machine learning in the modern sense, it was a primitive form of persistence.
This detail was little mentioned by Weizenbaum in his published article at the time. Nonetheless, it showed that ELIZA was more than just a sequence of programmed responses. In 1966, this was something completely out of the ordinary.
A Milestone In Artificial Intelligence
ELIZA predates the term “chatbot.” It emerged before AI gained strength as a field. However, it incorporated concepts that would become pillars of modern computing, such as symbolic reasoning, interactivity, and attempts to simulate human behavior.
The creator himself, Joseph Weizenbaum, began to criticize the fascination people displayed for projecting feelings onto machines. He viewed with concern the psychological use of computers and warned of the dangers of the emotional illusion provoked by systems like ELIZA.
Last Response
With the recovery of ELIZA, an important chapter in digital history was reopened. The program that initiated conversations between humans and machines is back — now, to be preserved as part of technology’s memory.
A simple line of code, in a recreated mainframe, was enough to bring a forgotten piece of the past back to life. “HOW ARE YOU? PLEASE TELL ME YOUR PROBLEM.” The first chatbot in the world spoke again.
With information from ZME Science.
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