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Below is an implementation of ELIZA¹, an early conversational program built on pattern matching. During its development, its creator’s secretary allegedly asked for privacy before talking to ELIZA. Transcripts of conversations with the program suggest how readily people open up².

The fundamental technical problems with which ELIZA must be preoccupied are the following: The identification of the “most important” keyword occurring in the input message. The identification of some minimal context within which the chosen keyword appears; e.g., if the keyword is “you”, is it followed by the word “are” (in which case an assertion is probably being made). The choice of an appropriate transformation rule, and, of course, the making of the transformation itself. The provision of a mechanism that will permit ELIZA to respond “intelligently” when the input text contained no keywords. The provision of machinery that facilitates editing, particularly extension, of the script on the script writing level