Strange Country Ep. 306: ELIZA

In 1964, MIT researcher Joseph Weizenbaum created the first therapy chatbot ELIZA and realized soon after that it sucked and humanity was worse for it. Sixty years later, our new tech gods are like "sex porn bots for all!" Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly emulate the AI versions of themselves as they tell the tale of a computer scientist realizing Frankenstein's monster is a pile of generic platitudes that soaks up more energy than is sustainable.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

Huet, Ellen and Rachel Metz. "The Chatbot Delusions." Bloomberg Businessweek, 7 November 2025. Jargon, Julie, and Sam Schechner. "Seven Lawsuits Allege OpenAI Encouraged Suicide and Harmful Delusions." The Wall Street Journal, 6 November 2025. https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/seven-lawsuits-allege-openai-encouraged-suicide-and-harmful-delusions-25def1a3?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqdpfGBceCV1PHQljKMjMLgWMGTLtjo_qhdIzShR2uA8xXfuaqhIpJX4vBln7J0%3D&gaa_ts=69150f7d&gaa_sig=AnCNwO6N3LypulT6ufqqtDnUS7qBWHLFLX6Yc2FxlQSZHHDw9CJrvlSkJqa5vuxoI6qLwxyfA8BhD4sDghUwaw%3D%3D Killgrove, Kristina. "'ELIZA,' the world's 1st chatbot, was just resurrected from 60-year-old computer code." Live Science, Future US Inc, 18 January 2025, https://www.livescience.com/technology/eliza-the-worlds-1st-chatbot-was-just-resurrected-from-60-year-old-computer-code. Accessed 9 November 2025. Metz, Cade. "Are A.I. Therapy Chatbots Safe to Use?" The New York Times, 6 November 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/technology/ai-therapy-chatbots-ash.html. Accessed 8 November 2025. Tarnoff, Ben. "Weizenbaum's nightmares: how the inventor of the first chatbot turned against AI." The Guardian, 25 July 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/25/joseph-weizenbaum-inventor-eliza-chatbot-turned-against-artificial-intelligence-ai. Accessed 9 November 2025. Weizenbaum, Joseph. "Computer Power and Human Reason." W. H. Freeman and Company. 1976. http://blogs.evergreen.edu/cpat/files/2013/05/Computer-Power-and-Human-Reason.pdf Wells, Sarah. "Exploring the Dangers of AI in Mental Health Care." HAI, Stanford University, 11 June 2025, https://hai.stanford.edu/news/exploring-the-dangers-of-ai-in-mental-health-care. Accessed 8 November 2025.